HSWW
by J1974
Summary: When Hermione Granger learns she is a witch and decides to attend Hogwarts, she doesn't totally know what she gets involved into (Rated M to be on the safe side) (of course, I don't own anything apart from my original characters and the plot)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Miss Hermione Granger is expected at the principal's office." The hyperacute voice of a woman said via a loudspeaker inside the classroom.

"You may go Hermione." Miss Sulley the teacher told her as she interrupted the lesson she was giving to the class.

Hermione stood up from her chair, put her things away neatly in her desk and walked up to the front of the class. Every child present in the room had their eyes fixated on her as she walked up to the front of the class and took the hall pass the teacher was handing her. As she passed the group of popular kids, she heard them speak in her back.

"Finally, she's getting kicked out of this school. Father was beginning to worry that I would have had to spend my entire scholarship with her" a girl with a bright, nearly fluorescent pink dress whispered loud enough for Hermione to hear but not the teacher.

 _Shut up Melanie_ Hermione thought as she passed her row as quickly as she could; walking over the bag that was in the middle of the alleyway.

Once she had gotten the hall pass from her teacher, she exited the classroom as quietly and quickly as possible, walked through the corridors, and up the old flight of stairs leading to the administration offices. She made sure her black and red quilt skirt fell right, that her blouse was not too crumpled and that her bushy mane was somewhat tamed; before knocking on the door and entering the principal's office secretariat. A tall blonde woman with a pair of black Mary-jane shoes, pencil skirt, and white blouse was looking at Hermione from above her pair of glasses that were laying on the tip of her nose.

"Miss Hermione Granger?" She asked looking at the clipboard in her hand.

"Yes. It's me, madam. I was called a few minutes ago to the principal's office." Hermione said, in the politest fashion she could.

"Ah, yes." The blonde said going behind the desk and taking the handset of the telephone in her hand as she pressed a button on the right of the keyboard. "Mr. Theodore, Hermione Granger is her… very well sir" She said as the line was connected to the principal's office. Then to Hermione "You may go in."

Hermione mouthed a thank you and went for the door between the secretariat and the principal's office. She counted to three in her head (she always did that to concentrate when she was under a huge amount of pressure or just to calm herself down) and opened the door.

"Ah, here she is." Mr. Theodore, the principal said as he stood up. "Come in Hermione. Come in." He continued.

Hermione walked in and closed the door behind her. She then saw that a tall, semi-long black-haired man with a long buttoned-up black, black pants and black dress shoes. He was tall and thin and the small skin that was visible was of an extreme pallor. His onyx black eyes bored through her as if he was analyzing her, examining her, testing her even

"Hermione, may I present you, Professor Snape. I want you to sit down and listen very carefully to what he has to say to you." The principal said very seriously to Hermione as if she was only a small child. She didn't like adults to treat her as such, even though she was only just a child. She already understood some basis of economy, politics, sociology or global issues; due to the numerous hours spent at the library reading every single book she could.

The director of the school then left the office and Hermione was left with the other man alone in the office.

"Miss Granger, I think it would be best if you would sit down." The man said raising from his chair and presenting her the other plastic chair next to him

Hermione walked to the chair and sat down. She was glad that the man didn't speak to her as if she was a child but as his equal. When she was comfortably set in the small plastic chair, he sat down and crossed his legs.

"Miss Granger, I am going to speak to you as an adult. I do believe on the contrary of some people that you are no longer a small child which cannot understand serious matters. You, Miss Granger are a witch." The man said as simply as if he had told her what the weather was like today.

Hermione was looking at the man with her eyes opened wide in incredulity. She couldn't believe what the tall dark-clothed stranger was saying. Surely, she couldn't be a witch. If she was a witch how come she never remarked it previously, how come no one told her anything, and how come she was unable to defend herself when her classmates bullied her.

"Miss Granger, miss Granger. Can you here me?" The man said, placing a hand on the hand that was gripping the armrest of the plastic seat.

She shook her daydream away and looked at the man beside her. "You must think I am incredibly rude sir, but what if I am a witch. It doesn't affect anything. Does it? I mean…" she tried to say sounding as polite as possible.

"I was coming to it. You see, you are not the only one in this situation. Actually, you are far from being the only one. You see, wizards exit since the dawn of the universe. But we live hidden as we are afraid of how the muggles would react if they knew that wizards existed." He explained to her.

"I'm sorry sir to ask. But what are _muggles_?" Hermione asked confused.

"Muggles are non-magic folks. So as we have to educate the children from the magical world. Wizards have created a great number of schools and magical academies. In France, there is the Beauxbatons, in northern Europe, there is Durmstrang, in America, there is Ilvermorny and in the UK, it's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" he said, his voice filled with pride. "In Hogwarts you will learn how to control your magic powers and use them. You will learn everything the wizarding world can provide. Now, the choice lies with you. For the moment, you are the only one to know. The only one to know who you truly are. You can either choose to come to this school and be part of the magical world or to disregard it all. In this case, your magic will be taken from you and every memory you have that concerns magic will be taken from you." He said.

What she loved the most about the whole thing was the possibility to learn more things. What has she got to lose? She is bullied and miserable in this school in the middle of nowhere. Her only prospect here is to become like her parents a dentist and take over the medical cabinet they own after they retire. She didn't want to be a dentist. She wanted to study law and defend the people who couldn't afford a good lawyer. Maybe if she went to Hogwarts, she could do just that. Her choice was made up in her head. She would go to this school and learn everything there is to know about the wizarding world.

"My choice is made up. I want to go and study at Hogwarts." Hermione said with as most braveness she could.

"You won't be able to see your parents apart from holidays Miss Granger. You won't be able to tell your friends who you really are. You are sure you can cope with all that?" Professor Snape asked her.

"I don't see my parents a lot anyway. They stay at the cabinet until at least 9 p.m. every day even on Sundays. I don't have any friends. They call me the freak as I am always in the library reading books and I work a lot. I am not losing anything if I am leaving this place. On the opposite, I am gaining a lot from it." Hermione explained. "So yes, I am sure that I can cope with all that sir." She said, her head held up high.

"In this case Miss Granger, I shall inform the Hogwarts' headmaster of your decision. Your parents shall get a letter in the afternoon explaining to them everything and you will receive a letter containing the list of furniture you will need. I shall help you get your furniture in late August and accompany you to the train to Hogwarts." The man said standing up.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Miss Granger. Oh, by the way if anyone asks what they wanted from me tell them you have won a scholarship to a chemistry school abroad. They won't ask any questions that way. Remember you are not to talk to anyone about who you truly are, except your parents. Of course." He continued as he accompanied her back to the door of the office.

As she went back to class, she was practically hopping with joy. Finally, she was going to be something else than the _bushy-haired freak_ or _the tooth monster_. She was going to study in a good school, well she thought it was a good school. She hadn't asked the man what results they got for graduation and what was its standings.

 _There you go Hermione_ she said to herself _you've rushed to conclusion. You didn't consider all your options and now you'll have to assume the responsibility_. She chastised herself.

When she arrived in front of the classroom's door. She inhaled once and knocked on it. A pupil opened the door and she entered the class before going to the teacher desk and placing the hall pass back on it.

"Surprised you're still there bushy-haired freak" the same girl in the flashy pink dress.

 _Ignore them, Hermione. They are not worth it_ she told herself as the other children laughed at her.

"CHILDREN. Calm down. You will all have to do two extra exercises for disturbing the class. Hermione. Sit back down please and take out your French book. Page 394" Miss Sulley said severely. "And if you would please read us the first paragraph and translate it…" She then said more kindly this time.

"Bien sûr madame" Hermione replied in a perfect French.

"Je m'appelle Noémie. Je suis une fille et j'ai onze ans. Je vais à l'école à Paris et j'habites le 7e arrondissement près de la Tour Eiffel. J'adore aller me balader sur le Champs de Mars. Mon papa est fleuriste et ma maman est dentiste. J'ai un petit frère Jean et une grande soeur Claire."

"Very good Hermione. But you should put more emphasis on the 'r's. Remember. Now translate the text please." The teacher continued.

"My name is Noemie. I am a girl and I am eleven years old. I go to school in Paris and I live in the 7th arrondissement, near the Eiffel Tower. I like going for a walk on the Champs de Mars. My father is a florist and my mother is a dentist. I have a little brother Jean and a big sister Claire." Hermione said remembering that an _arrondissement_ was a district of Paris.

"Excellent Hermione. It's an A." Miss Sulley said to Hermione with a large smile.

"Thank you, Miss Sulley." Hermione said bowing her head in shame. She didn't like to be praised in front of the class.

The rest of the day went by without any incident and she went back by foot to her home. She arrived to both of her parents who were sitting at the kitchen table and she joined them.

"Hermione. Dearest, I think we have to talk" Mr. Granger told his daughter.

"I think we do dad" she said to her parents with a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hermione, love. Care to explain what this is." Mrs. Granger asked, handing Hermione a piece of yellow and old looking paper. Which she took and began reading attentionally.

 _Dear Mister and Madam Granger,_

 _My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am writing to you about the subject of your daughter Hermione Jean Granger. It has come to our attention that your daughter was born with magic in her blood. One of our personnel has contacted she was faced with a choice. Either to come and attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ _or_ _give up her power and any knowledge she has about the magical world. She chose the first option and that is why I am writing to you._

 _It is with the upmost honor that I write to you to let you know that your daughter Hermione Jean Granger is a witch and that she was accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a boarding school that teaches young witches and wizards, age 10 to 18, how to use and control their magic. For centuries now, generations of students have walked through the halls of the institution that has become Hogwarts over the years. The students are sorted at the beginning of the years. There is Gryffindor, for the braves; Slytherin for the cunnings; Hufflepuff, for those whose friends matter the most and Ravenclaw for the most intelligent._

 _You will find along with my letter a list of all the furniture your daughter will need to pursue her academic year. Mister Severus Tobias Snape, Potions Master in our school, will be accompanying your daughter to shop for the precedingly mentioned furniture on the 31_ _st_ _August at 9 a.m. sharp in front of the London Eye. Your daughter will then take the following day the Hogwarts Express and begin her term at Hogwarts on the 1_ _st_ _September._

 _Rest assured of my upmost respect._

 _Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster at HSWW_

"Well the letter pretty much sums it up all" Hermione said looking at her father who was red with anger.

"Hermione. Are you insane? Things like this cost money. All the furniture. And who was this _one of our personnel_ who came and talked to you about the school? Have you really thought about it? Thought about your mother? About your family?" Her father asked with a look of fury in his eyes.

"First of all, no. I'm not insane. Secondly, I think their government or leaders have already come across this situation. There must be certainly some kinds of scholarships or something like that Thirdly, it was Professor Snape who came and talked to me about the school. He came to me today while I was in class and I had an interesting talk with him about the school. He was very kind and let me the choice of whether I wanted to come or not. Yes, I thought about mom and the family. You are never there for me. Most of the time I come home to an empty house, do my homework alone, prepare my meal, prepare myself for bed and read for a bit before switching my light off. I think I can count on one hand how many times you both were there for dinner this year. I also think that if you truly love me like you say you do, you will let me go there as I truly think I will be happy there. You know that I'm bullied and that people call me a freak at school. Maybe it'll all finally change when I'm off to Hogwarts." Hermione told her parents with her eyes filled with tears. She couldn't keep them back. It was all too much, too much to bare and cope with.

"Go to your room Hermione. Now!" Her father shouted, standing up and pointing to the way to her bedroom.

Hermione stood up and went to her room. What had she done to anger her parents has much. All she wanted was to have a better life, and this magic was in her blood since her birth. She couldn't just ignore it. What had convinced her the most was all the knowledge she could gain from the experience. The fact that she would discover an all other world with all its knowledge was an exciting prospect for her.

She still had the envelope in her hand and she saw that as the letter said, another piece of paper was attached to it. As she took it in her hand, the paper detached itself from the letter and Hermione read through it

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

 _First year students will require:_

 _Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

 _One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

 _One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

 _One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

 _Please note that_ _ **all**_ _pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

 _Set Books_

 _All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

 _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ by Miranda Goshawk

 _A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot

 _Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling

 _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore

 _Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander

 _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ by Quentin Trimble

 _Other equipment_

 _1 wand_

 _1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

 _1 set glass or crystal phials_

 _1 telescope_

 _1 set brass scales_

 _Student may also bring an owl_ _ **or**_ _a cat_ _ **or**_ _a toad_

 _PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

Hermione read through the list twice before placing it with the letter onto the small desk in the corner of her room. She then got her books and school things out of her school bag and began doing her homework.

Three hours later, she heard a knock on the door. She caped her pen and placed it back onto the desk before telling the person on the other side of the door to come in. When her father appeared through the gap of the door, she flinched.

"Come to the kitchen. We have talked with your mother and have come to a common agreement." He said, his voice cold and harsh.

Hermione stood up from her desk chair and followed her father down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her mother was sitting at the table. Her cheeks streaked with tears and her eyes red from crying. Although Hermione wanted to rush to her mother and hug her, she sat down opposite her mother and looked at her.

"We have decided that as you don't want to stay here anymore, we will help you financially to go to this Hogwarts School. You will not come back for the holidays, only for the summer ones. Your allowances will be of 20 £ per months and all your expenses will have to be covered by this money. Is it understood?" Her father said in the same cold and calm voice.

"Yes dad." Hermione said looking at her feet.

"Good, for now, you will go back to your room and wait for us to call you for dinner. I don't want to hear a sound. As the holidays are in a week, I will try and find you a camp for during the holidays until the 29th August." He then informed her before pointing to the door of the kitchen.

Hermione didn't dare to speak. She stood up and went back to her room, she went back to her room and took the letter once again in her hands. She felt her body relax as she read and reread the letter and list. As she looked more and more at the letter, she saw words appear.

 _Miss Granger,_

 _I have understood that you like reading a lot. I have arranged for your school library to have a copy of each book you have to have for your first year at Hogwarts as well as a few introductory books for you. They are under a spell which makes them look like regular books. The charm will come off when you're alone so no one else can read what's written in the books._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Professor Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

She felt extremely thankful that her future Professor had thought of leaving her something to read over the summer. She would hate it; if she had arrived at school and didn't exactly know what to expect. She then heard the voice of his father calling her for dinner. She placed once again the piece of paper on her desk and went to the dining room. She saw that the table had been set but for two and two only.

"You're not eating there. Go to the kitchen and don't you dare to show your face again." Her father said harshly.

"Yes dad." Hermione replied before scurrying away to the kitchen.

Her mother was standing next to the cooking stove. A few pots were simmering as the food cooked. Hermione approached her mother and saw that her cheeks were streaked with tears. One part of her wanted to hug her mother, to tell her everything was alright and they would still see each other; but the other. The other just wanted to run away and never see her again.

"Can I help you with anything mom?" Hermione asked, softly.

"No, it's fine Mia. Just sit down and I'll bring you your food. Once your finish you may go upstairs, prepare yourself for bed and go to sleep." Her mother said to her kindly.

She sat down and a few minutes later, her mother came back with a plate of raviolis. Her mother then left the room and left Hermione alone in the kitchen. She ate her raviolis quietly and as soon as she was done with it, she took it to the sink and washed it. She then went back to her room, prepared herself for bed and then, finally, went to bed with her favorite book.

She woke up at 6 a.m., as usual, she dressed for school and went down into the kitchen. Normally, she would eat breakfast with her parents and then go to school, but not today. Today, she was greeted by a small yellow post-it. She took it and read.

 _Hermione,_

 _There's OJ and milk in the fridge. If you want cereals, there are some in the cupboards._

 _Have a nice day. Mom_

Hermione grabbed the post-it and crumbled it in her hand. She was angry at her parents. Angry that they didn't understand how much she suffers in her current class and how much she needs to escape it. She took her breakfast and saw it was already 7 a.m. _time to leave Hermione_ she thought to herself. She took her school things and put her shoes on before leaving the house, making sure the door was properly closed before doing so.

When she arrived at school, she went straight to the library. She hadn't forgotten about the letter she had received from Professor Snape and she did want to get a little head start. She opened the French doors leading to the library and signed herself in as she was supposed to before going to the librarian's desk.

"Excuse me Mrs. Holmes. Someone dropped books off for me. Do you have them?" Hermione asked politely.

"Yes, they're here. You just need to fill that out for me and you'll be able to take them back home." The librarian said gently.

She filled out the form and took the huge pile of books. Although there were at least 15 books, she found that they weren't that heavy. She took them and told herself that she was finally going to be happy.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She then went towards her classroom and saw that as every morning, the door was opened. She entered the empty classroom and went towards her desk at the far back of the room. She placed the pile of book onto the desk and took the first one. She began reading the title, but suddenly, it disappeared and let place to a black book with golden letters onto it.

 _Magic, a complete guide for Muggleborns_ by Syllabus Cigam

She opened it and immediately went to the summary, there were chapters about everything she could imagine. Banks, Hospitals, Weddings (or bounding as they called them), Schools, Ministry for Magic (or MoM), Currency, Famous Wizards, Basic History of the Magic World, Modern History of Magic, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Harry Potter (she didn't have a clue of who they were, but she vowed to learn about them during the day), and so on and so on. At least two thousand pages on different subjects.

She was reading about Diagon Alley, a wonderful street, full of magic shops and boutiques, when the writing suddenly changed to an extract of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. She rose her head and saw that the teacher had just came inside the classroom and set her bags on her desk.

"Oh, sorry Hermione, I startled you. What are you reading?" Miss Sulley asked with a slight smile to Hermione.

"It's alright Miss Sulley. I'm just reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I really love that book." She said showing the bewitched tome to Miss Sulley.

"Really, maybe you could do a reading sum up for the class. I'm sure they will love it." She said with a large smile on her face clapping her hands together in excitement.

"Miss Sulley, I would love to, but I need to study for my next school. I have a lot to catch up. Especially in French." Hermione said as kindly as possible, trying her best not to let it slip out what she really was, neither what school she was going to.

"Which school Hermione? You're coming back next year. Aren't you?" Miss Sulley asked, her voice hinting a slight panic.

"I'm afraid not. You see, yesterday a representative of a foreign chemistry school came to propose me a scholarship. I accepted. I am going there next year." Hermione said looking at her teacher. She hated it that she had to lie to her teacher, but she had to as she couldn't tell anyone who she really was.

"Well, I am very happy for you Hermione." Miss Sulley said genuinely to Hermione.

It was exactly then, that the bell rang. Herds of children entered the room, chatting loudly as they did so. The teacher took several minutes to get the attention of the children and when she had done the roll call, she began her class. Hermione tried to focus, but her attention was always caught by the pile of books on her desk.

At recess, she chatted a little with Timothy, one of her closest, if not her only friend and told him she would go next year. He was happy, but also very sad to see one of his friends leave him. He made her promise to write and she would have to write back.

Five days after, Hermione had finished reading _Magic, a complete guide for Muggleborns_ and had also read _A History of Magic_. She was now accustomed to most of the ways of the wizarding world. She was already thinking of buying an owl to write to her parents and friends, of going to Flourish and Blotts to buy tones of books, but what she was most interested about, was picking her wand out. She knew that there was one wand and one wand only that would choose her. Mr. Cigam had explained in his book.

 _As a young witch or wizard is about to go to Hogwarts, Ilvermory, Durmstrong, Beaubatons or any other wizarding academy, he will have to go to a wand maker (i.e: Ollivander (UK), Flinch (USA), Gregorowitch (Bulgaria) or Miss Sourcière (France)). Wands will be presented to them and after about twenty minutes, the wizard or witch, will be bounded with a wand. The length of the process can very from one person to the other._

Her parents had decided that she would stay at home to study for her new school. A baby sitter would come and stay with her for the first month while her parents went to Bora Bora and she would go see her grandparents for two weeks before coming back to London and going to shop for her school supplies before sleeping at her aunt's house and boarding the Hogwarts Express the day after.

The fact that her parents hadn't wanted to spend time with Hermione had made her heart ache. She had been so close to the both of them, but their paths were drifting away. She regretted that, regretted that in order to be happier, she had to leave this place where she grew up, a place where she felt at home. But her decision was taken. She wanted to learn how to be a witch. If she was fully frank, if nobody had told her she was a witch, she might not have had remarked it at all.

What scared Hermione the most was the fear of failing. She didn't want to disappoint the kind looking professor Snape, who had taken the time to come and talk to her, would accompany her to Diagon Alley and to the Hogwarts Express in late August, and, had bought for her the required books plus the _complete guide for Muggleborns_. The book must have cost at least 10 Galleons, if not more.

In the five days it took for her to be able to recite the book by heart, she had found out about the wizard's currency. At first, it was odd to see prices in Galleons, sickles and knuts. But as she read along, she didn't even need the conversion to the pounds. She was greatly surprised when she had gone on the third day to the grocery shop; and automatically converted the prices of what she was buying to wizarding currency.

A month later, it was the end of the school term. There was the traditional send off and award ceremony, to Hermione's great surprise she received four awards this year. Normally, she would only get one, best grades. But this year she had, best grades, best participation in class, _prix de français_ and teacher's award. Each time her name was called, she went up to the steps under a few polite claps, collected her price and went back to her seat at the back of the hall, alone.

Although she had invited her parents, they had refused to come and she had gone to the award ceremony on her own. At the end of the ceremony, a few teachers came and spoke with her. She spoke for a few minutes before looking at the exit where the pupils had gathered up and were already leaving, all impatient to be in holydays.

That's when she saw a tall blond-haired girl. She had to be at least 20 years old and was surpassing in height every single kid. It made Hermione smile to see this woman with her huge round glasses which were eating up at least half her face and gave her this intelligent look Hermione immediately liked. She wore a simple black t-shirt and pair of jeans and had a piece of paper in her hand.

Hermione went towards the woman. She knew that her summer baby sitter was going to collect her from the award ceremony before going back home. Her parents would be leaving the day after for Bora Bora and they wanted to give their last instructions to the baby sitter before leaving.

"Hello Mrs., can I help you with anything?" Hermione asked politely to the woman when there were only a few kids left.

"Yes, I am searching for Hermione Granger. She had an award ceremony and I was supposed to collect her afterwards." She explained to Hermione.

"That's me. You must be Miss. Thorne. My name is Hermione. Hermione Granger." Hermione said presenting her hand to the woman.

"You can call me Nora. Miss Thorne makes me think I am a thousand years old." She said with a lovely laugh before taking her hand and shaking it.

She then saw that Hermione's arms were full of the awards she had gotten. She proposed Hermione to take at least one or two of them, and Hermione accepted. They went back to a small black classy looking car. It was a small mazda rx-7. Hermione knew the brand as she liked from time to time to look into her father's car magazine.

"Nice car." Hermione told her baby sitter.

"Thanks, my parents gifted me with it a few days ago for my 21st birthday. I just got my driving license and they surprised me with it just after I received my license. I am ecstatic about it." She told Hermione as she unlocked the door. "Let me just pull the seat down…" She said as she fumbled with the mechanism supposed to make the seat flap down. "In you go" she told Hermione when she had finally managed to pull the seat back.

Hermione went to the back of the car and set her prizes onto the other seat before buckling her belt. She spoke with the baby sitter for the short ten minutes ride to her suburban home in east London. She learned that her baby sitter had just graduated from Oxford and was now doing politics.

"It was always my dream to go to Oxford, maybe after my chemistry school." Hermione said remembering she was supposed to go to a chemistry school next year and not a magic school.

"Hermione. I know you're a witch. I was actually chosen by Hogwarts to baby sit you. They found a way to suggest to your parents to hire me and there I am. I'll be able to answer all your questions. I also am a Muggleborn. I'll also help you with your homework." She said smiling.

"So, you're really a witch. You have an actual wand and you went to Flourish and Blotts and Hogwarts." Hermione said excitedly, nearly jumping out of her seat.

"Yes, I have a wand, but don't squeal like that, I don't want us to get into an accident or anything of the sort." She said concentrating on the road.

"Sorry Nora" Hermione said, immediately settling down. She didn't want her baby sitter to get in trouble by her fault and so they spent the rest of the travel in silence.

When they arrived in front of the red brick house and Nora had helped Hermione out of the back of the car, Nora saw Hermione's smile vanish.

"Hey what's happening sweetie?" Nora asked bending towards Hermione as she saw a few tears fall down from her cheeks.

"It's just that I would like to be with my parents a little while before they leave for Bora Bora tomorrow, but I am not sure they want that very much themselves." Hermione said sobbing lightly.

"Hey, calm down sweetie. Maybe they will let you stay with them a few moments. You should tell them how many prizes you've got. I am sure they will be very pleased of you. It's not everyday your daughter gets four prizes from her school. Is it?" Nora said wiping a tear off of Hermione's cheek.

"You're right. I hope they will be pleased with me." Hermione said before ringing the heavy brass bell.

It was her father who answered the door. He was wearing a pair of old jeans along with a shirt which had a few buttons opened in the front.

"Hello dad." Hermione said, her voice just above a murmur.

"Hermione. You are to go to your room. I'll bring you your dinner later on" he said harshly to his daughter. "Miss Thorne. I hope that she didn't annoy you too much. She tends to exasperate anyone who speaks to her." He then said to the baby sitter stepping side for them to get in.

"No Mr. Granger, you have a very good girl. If only every child I baby sat was like your daughter. I would not have any troubles at all" She said to her father before giving a small smile to Hermione who had already begun going up the stairs, her prizes inside her arms.

 _A witch. My baby sitter is a witch._ She was beyond happy, finally she could talk with someone about all what was happening to her. She sat on the bed an opened the first gift. It was a book about French literature. She sat on her bed and began reading it. A few minutes later, she was sleeping, her head hanging over the book.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hermione was awoken by a loud bang on her bedroom's door.

"Yes" She said scrambling herself out of bed and placing her books underneath her bed quickly.

"Open the door. I have your dinner." Her father's voice said from the other side of the door.

She rushed towards the door and turned the doorknob so that the door was now opened. When she had opened the door, she was met with her father imposing figure which carrying a tray with a bottle of water, a piece of bread and a plate with a little piece of lamb and peas. He handed her the tray and she took it before thanking him.

He exited the bedroom and slammed the door behind him, she flinched slightly as he did so. She took the tray back to her bed and began eating her meal in complete silence. When she had finished her plate, she placed it back on the tray which now laid on the foot of bed. She was about to go to the bathroom to ready herself for the night, when she heard a very small knock on the door. It was her mother.

"Hermione. Darling, can I come in?" She asked semi-embarrassed, semi-troubled.

"Yes mom, come in" Hermione said stepping aside from the door to let her mother through.

"I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that everything turned out to be like that. I also wanted to tell you I always knew you were going to be a witch. You know my older sister, Rachel." Her mother began sitting at the foot of the bed. "I was 6 when she received her letter. Our parents reacted exactly like your father. And since then, I never saw her again. Neither did our parents. I don't want to lose you my little girl. Promise you'll write to me. You must also promise you'll never try and find your aunt. She didn't reach out to me, I respect her decision and don't want you to try and be in touch with her" Mrs. Granger said, looking into Hermione's eyes with a hint of seriousness into them.

"I promise mom, I will never try and contact my aunt. But if she reaches out for me, I ill reply. And of course, I'll write to you. It goes without saying. But what about dad? He'll be furious if he knows you asked me for letters. He told me he never wanted to hear from me again." Hermione told her mother as she hugged her tightly, scared to lose her forever.

"He might be my husband, but you'll always be my little girl Hermione. Never forget that. I love you and that will never change whoever you are, whoever you love. You'll always be my little girl." She replied hugging her daughter tightly.

"I love you too mom." Hermione replied settling in the embrace. It felt so good to stay like that, close to her mother, close to her heart.

She fell asleep in her mother's embrace and Mrs. Granger placed her sleeping daughter back onto the bed before pulling the covers up.

"Sweet dreams my little angel." She said before placing a tender kiss onto her forehead.

When Hermione woke up, she felt cold. The night before, her mom had come and talked with her. She now knew her aunt was a witch and, in some way, it reassured her. It reassured her to know that she wasn't the only one in her family to be a witch. She looked at her bedside table and saw there was a small note and an envelope.

She opened the note and read. She immediately recognized the tiny, small, clear writing of her mother.

 _Dearest,_

 _I wanted you to have this. My mother gave it to me when I married your dad. I don't know when I'll be able to see you again, so here it is. Take the greatest care of it._

 _Mom_

Hermione then took the envelope. It was a brown envelope and although it was quite small, Hermione was surprised at how heavy it felt. She opened the envelope and reached into it. Her hand came across something metallic and she pulled it from the packet. It was a silver and gold locket. On the front of it was a chiseled "R". She knew what it stood for. _Raven_ , her mother's maiden name.

She opened the locket and saw a photo of her mother and herself when she was just a few days old. She had to fight back the need to cry very hard and after a few calming breaths, she closed the locket back up and placed it around her neck.

It was only then she realized how hungry she was. She jumped out of her bed and made it quickly before heading for the door and down the staircase. Nora was in the kitchen and she was busy around a few pots which were simmering onto the fire.

"Hey there, had a good night?" She asked when she saw Hermione enter the kitchen.

"The best night in a long time Nora. My mom talked to me last night and she gave me this locket. She also told me she wanted us to stay in touch" Hermione said while sitting onto one of the chairs surrounding the large kitchen island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Well I am very happy for you Hermione. What do you want for breakfast? I made pancakes if you want some" She told Hermione.

"Oh yes please. I love pancakes. What is your favorite topping?" She then asked her baby sitter excitedly.

"Well I love strawberries and chocolate" Nora told Hermione.

"I love that too and I think we have exactly that in the kitchen. Wait up, I'll get then for us" Hermione said running around the kitchen and searching through the cupboards for the strawberries and the chocolate syrup.

She found the ingredients and took the orange juice out of the refrigerator before joining Nora who was already sitting at the table and helping herself with a pancake.

"They're delicious!" Hermione exclaimed as she reached for a second pancake.

"Well I am glad you like them, cause it's the only breakfast item I can cook properly." Nora chuckled.

"Really?! You can't even make scrambled eggs. You must be kidding me" Hermione said as she looked with big round eyes at Nora.

"Last time I did scrambled eggs, I nearly burnt the house down. Believe me, I do not want to have to tell your parents they are going to come back and find a pile of ash instead of their house." She said sounding deadly serious.

"I'll teach you then. My father taught me last year. I'll even give you my secret recipe." Hermione said as she finished up her third pancake.

"Well I look forward to that. What do you want to do today?" Nora then asked.

"I don't really know, I have a lot of questions about the wizarding world and would love to go to Diagon Alley, at least once before I go there with Professor Snape in August" Hermione said

"Wait, you're going to Diagon Alley with Professor Snape. We're talking about Severus Tobias Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the one who despises every single student apart from Slytherins?" Nora asked with big eyes.

"Yes, but he doesn't despise the students. I mean I met him and I found him quite amiable" Hermione said, frowning.

"Well I can tell you that he didn't seem that amiable to me when I was at Hogwarts. He began teaching at Hogwarts one year before I came to Hogwarts. He was down right scary Hermione. I can promise you that. And the grades. You could consider yourself lucky if he gave you anything above an A. I think he only gave one or two O's in my entire Hogwarts' scholarship." She said, placing a finger on her bottom lip as she tried to remember. "That's right only two O's. Bill Weasley, in 1986 and Charlie Weasley in 1987." She told Hermione.

"Sorry, but what are O's" Hermione asked, confused.

"Sorry, yes, you see in the wizarding world there is a different grading system. O stands for Outstanding. It pretty much means you nailed it. So, it would be an A+ in the Muggle world. Then there is E for Exceeds Expectations. Let's say it would be between A and B. After there is A for Acceptable. That's between a B- and a C. If you get any of those grades, it means you passed. Then there is the bad grades. There is P for poor. So, between C- and D, then D for dreadful. Between D- and E and then, there is T for Troll." she explained

"So that's an F?" Hermione asked as she tried to remember what the witch had just told her.

"Yep, you got it" She replied.

"I never thought I would once in my life be happy if I got an E" Hermione laughed.

"I know. The first time I went to Oxford and got my first essay back, I got an E. I was so happy at first but then, my classmates told me it was a really bad grade. You should have seen my face. Many of my classmates laughed. It was really funny." She told Hermione.

They finished up their breakfast and Hermione went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She chose to wear a simple black jean with a short-sleeved t-shirt along with a small jacket. _It might be summer, but I need to look alright for my first appearance in the wizarding world_. Hermione thought to herself as she brushed her bushy hairs.

"Hermione, come along now, we have to take the bus to the leaky cauldron, then we'll get a bite there and we'll then go to Diagon Alley." Her baby sitter said, as she shouted towards the stairs.

"Coming Nora" Hermione scram from the bathroom as she tried to take the brush out of her hair. "Just… trying… to… get… that… brush… out… of… my… hair…" She said as she pulled with all her strength onto the silver brush who refused to budge from her messy mane. Finally, after five long minutes she spent battling with the brush, she got it out of her hairs.

"I'm finally ready Nora" Hermione said, skipping down the stairs and into the entryway. "So what line are we taking?" Hermione asked.

"Line? Who talked about Muggle bus. No we're taking the Knight Bus. Wait, that's right, you don't know about it. The Knight bus was commissioned in 1865 and comes from an idea from the Minister for Magic at the time, Minister Dugald McPhail. It is used to transport underaged wizards and witches, infirm and squibs, squibs are people born from wizards but with no magical power at all." Nora explained.

"Wow, they really thought about everything. I was kind of surprised that they hadn't thought of any way for people who couldn't commute with the regular wizarding ways." Hermione said as she put her shoes on.

"Come along, we won't have a lot of time once the bus arrives." Nora told Hermione as she locked the door behind them.

"In how much time will the bus be here?" Hermione asked, clearly puzzled.

"About, right now" Nora said as she pulled a long wooden texture like stick out of her pocket and quickly placed it back inside it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere a large purple bus pulled out. It was a three-decker bus, and although it was daytime, the head lights were on. The words _THE KNIGHT BUS_ were painted on the front and side of the bus, in large orange paint that had smudged as they had been written on the accidented body of the bus.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus. Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor today." A boy in a wrinkled purple conductor uniform said.

It was a tall, thin, young man. He had a pasty face and two black racoon-like eyes. His face is so pale that one could believe he hadn't seen the sun in years.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Hello sir, I'd like two tickets for the leaky cauldron please." Nora said to the boy in the purple uniform.

"Two tickets for the leaky cauldron. Anythin' with that Ma'am?" The conductor replied with a thick welsh accent. "We've got ice cream if yeh want."

"No thank you, sir, just two tickets for the leaky cauldron." Nora replied with a smile.

"Two tickets for the leaky cauldron, 2 Galleons Please" He said as he turned the handlebar of a small machine which fell down from his neck attached by a leather strap, tied around his neck.

"Beds number 314 and 315" The conductor said as he punched holed into the tickets before giving them to Nora

They boarded the bus and the first thing Hermione saw was that the bus was filled with beds of all size and shapes. On some of them, people in large cloak were sleeping or reading a newspaper. What surprised Hermione the most about those newspaper was the fact that the photos moved. Hermione looked around her and saw that Nora was already going up the large staircase in the middle of the bus. She ran after her and a few moments later, she had caught up. It only took them another minute for them to find their beds.

"Take 'er away, Ern" the girls heard Stan.

"Yeah, take it away." Another voice said.

Hermione suddenly felt herself fall on top of the bed as the bus seemed to go from 0 to 100 miles per hour.

"Wow, I definitely wasn't ready for that." Hermione said as she settled herself onto the bed.

"Yeah, don't worry, you'll get used to it. I used to take the knight bus all the time. We'll arrive in just a moment." Nora said.

Thirty minutes later, the conductor came to their beds to tell them they would arrive shortly at the leaky cauldron. They did in fact arrive after only a few minutes to the leaky cauldron. Hermione felt a little sick, but as soon she had got off the bus, she immediately felt better.

"Welcome to the leaky cauldron Hermione" Nora said showing a small black building.

When Hermione first looked at the establishment, she was rather confused. It was a small black pub with windows so dirty, one couldn't see anything of what was happening inside it. A small black painted door was carved into an indentation into the wall. On top of it, a small cauldron sign hanged.

The sign had the shape of a cauldron and had some kind of liquid coming out from the bottom of it. The liquid had a greenish color and poured onto the street and into the gutter.

"The color of the liquid changes if the inn is full, you see, they also propose a variety of rooms. If they don't have any more rooms available, the liquid becomes red." Nora said as she pushed the door of the pub.

"But don't muggles see the liquid?" Hermione asked as she followed Nora inside the inn.

"Muggles, they don't see a thing. The whole place has a muggle repealing charm on it. So any muggles who comes near the leaky cauldron will suddenly remember that they have a very important meeting or appointment and go away immediately" Nora explained.

"Wow, wizards did think about everything, didn't they?" Hermione remarked as she entered the pub.

When she the door shut behind her, she was amazed. Everyone around her wore cloaks, they were of all shapes and colors. Some wizards or witches wore pointed hats and others had their hats on a stool or in the booth beside them. Hermione glanced at this new environment with broad eyes. Never in her life had she felt so happy to discover something brand new.

They walked through the bar and ended up at the back of the pub. Nora pushed a heavy black door and they ended up where the pub manager usually stored the trash cans before they would be taken away.

"Nora, why are we here?" Hermione asked, her voice full of doubt.

"This Hermione is the only way in to Diagon Alley. Of course, there are byways and things like that, but this is the official one." She explained.

Hermione looked at her baby sitter with an enquiring eye. It was just a small courtyard approximately 10 feet long and 6 feet wide with two trash cans in either side of the door.

"But Nora, where are the shops and Gringotts?" She asked.

"Be patient Hermione, I just have to remember… Yep, that's right." Nora said pulling her wand out of her pocket.

She first waved her wand over herself and she was now dressed as the other persons in the pub. She then pointed her wand at the wand and touched five of the bricks that constituted the wall opposite the door. The bricks moved until they formed an arch way.

"Welcome Hermione, to Diagon Alley!" Nora exclaimed as she walked through the archway and into the street.

Hermione was staring mouth wide opened to the street that had appeared before her eyes. Her brain telling her how impossible it was for the wall to have simply moved in such way that a passageway to a large street had appeared.

"Come along, Hermione. We have to first go to Gringotts, can't do anything in the Wizarding World without a trip to Gringotts. Hogwarts sent me the money for you. You have got a scholarship of 15 000 Galleons and it says here that the teachers were so impressed in your old school that some of the Hogwarts staff have also managed to gather 15 000 more Galleons for you. You're very lucky 30 000 Galleons is a lot of money Hermione." Nora said impressed as she read the letter she had received from Hogwarts.

"Wow, I am so thankful. If my maths are correct, I have about 100 000£. I… I… I don't deserve that money." Hermione said a little overwhelmed.

"You deserve it. Your parents wrote to Hogwarts and told them they would not participate in any way to your wizarding up bringing. They also said they did not want to be contacted in any ways from the school or any other magic related institution" Nora explained Hermione.

Hermione didn't reply. She didn't want to think about her parents right now, the thought would only make her sadder and that was something she didn't want. She was so happy to finally see with her own eyes what she had dreamed about. They walked down the street and finally arrived at Gringotts.

They went down the long hallway that lead to the desk. Hermione walked prudently as she looked left and right. Small wrinkled faced people were standing either side of the hallway. Some of them were sitting at desks and had scales on their desks. They were weighing piles of gold, bronze and silver coins before placing them inside small leather or velvet pouches and throwing the then composed pouches onto a small cart which another short wrinkled faced person would pull alongside the corridor.

"Nora, what are those?" Hermione asked, half afraid, half curious.

"They are goblins. Not the friendliest creatures in the world. I'd rather you stay close to me." Nora said taking the younger witch's hand.

They finally arrived at the desk at the end of the corridor. There, a goblin was perched on top of it. Piles of parchments, pots of black ink and at least a good dozen of quills littered the desk were the goblin was.

"Miss Hermione Jean Granger wishes to create an account in her name and for her scholarships found to be transferred onto it." Nora said in a rather authoritarian voice.

"And is Miss Hermione Jean Granger in presence of a legal guardian or representative of the legal authority?" The goblin asked, smugly.

"Yes, I am in charge of Miss Hermione Jean Granger until the end of July and as such, I dispose of the guardianship. I have here the letter of her parents. As the both of them are Muggles, they signed the Muggle way. They gave me the guardianship of their daughter until the 1st August, then the guardianship will be given to the tutor Hogwarts has decided appropriate for her." Nora explained as she took a small envelope out of her jacket.

Hermione had a hard time keeping her tears to herself as she only realized now how much her father hated her. She understood that by giving up their status of legal guardian, they were also giving up on her. Sure, she would still be seeing them, or so she hoped, during the holidays, but she knew that as soon as she would reach her legal majority, she would be left to fend for herself on her own by her parents.

"Alright, if Miss Hermione Jean Granger would kindly follow me along with you Miss. I will draw up the paperwork and you'll just have to MT them and I'll then guide her to her vault." The Goblin said before getting up and leaving the desk shortly.

He came back a few minutes later with a long roll of parchment which he gave to Nora and a small golden key.

"This, Miss Granger, is your vault key. I strongly advise you not to lose it. You will need in order to have access to your vault. It is unreproducible and will disintegrate if you lose it. If you lose this key, you will have to pay the sum of a 150 Galleons in order to replace it." The Goblin said to a very afraid Hermione.

"I'll take the greatest care of it sir. Thank you." Hermione said as she took the small key and held onto it.

"Very well then, I will accompany you to your vault. The money has already been transferred into it." He said with a small bow and a broad smile which showed off every single of his razor like teeth. "If you would please follow me." He said with another bow.

Hermione and Nora followed the goblin into a small corridor and onto a platform where at least a dozen carts were waiting. The goblin went to the one the furthest on the left and entered it. Hermione and Nora went also inside and sat down on the bench at the back of it.

"Careful for departure." The Goblin said as he touched a handle on the side of the cart.

The cart began moving slowly at first and then more and more quickly. It reached in a few minutes the speed of 30 miles/hour as he went deeper and deeper into the confines of the Wizarding Bank. Finally, after 10 minutes of cart ride, they arrived in front of her vault.

"Vault 1 876." The goblin said as he exited the cart and went onto a small platform leading to a long corridor with large metal doors. "Lamp, please" The goblin said with an unusual high-pitched voice. "Key, please" He then said to Hermione who handed him the small golden key.

The goblin made them step aside and then opened some kind of keyhole before inserting the key in it. The sound of the metal hinges being unlocked filled the air and a few seconds later, the door opened with a ear splitting squeal coming from the rusty hinges.

The vault was not large, but it was not small either. The walls were bare except for the empty shelves covering them. In the center of the room was a large pile of golden, silver and bronze coins. She took the small wallet she had got for Christmas and took the equivalent of 100 Galleons in various coins and pocketed it back into her jeans pocket before exiting the vault.

The goblin closed the vault and gave Hermione the key back. They returned to the cart and got back to the surface. There, the goblin bid them goodbye and Hermione and Nora went back up the street and into Diagon Alley.

"So, Hermione, what do you want to do now?" Nora asked with a large smile

"I would love to buy my wand. Is it possible?" Hermione asked, her eyes filled with stars as she imagined the moment when she will finally have her wand. She had read in _the complete guide for Muggleborns_ that when a wizard or a witch was matched with a wand, they would feel their magic coursing through their bodies. And many wizards had described it as the most beautiful thing in the world.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm so, so, so, sorry for the delay. I was meant to update it years ago. I hope you will enjoy the chapter I've put together. The next chapter will be out by Wednesday next. Once again so sorry.

J1974.

Chapter 6

They headed towards Ollivander and as soon as they had set foot inside the old wandmaker's shop, Hermione couldn't stop the overwhelming feeling of joy that surrounded her. She couldn't really put the finger on what was making her this happy, but all the problems she seemed to have before entering Ollivander was now gone.

The shop was very dark and filled with bookcases stocked with small but long boxes. They all were more or less dusty, but every single of them had the shop's label. It was a small oval label with gold on the rim of it. In the center of the label was the year of fabrication of the wand. On top were four numbers, each separated by little crosses.

The first number corresponded to the core of the wand and ranged from one to three. Hermione knew that Ollivander only made his wands out of three types of cores.

The first one was Dragon heartstring. She had read that the wands using dragon heartstrings as their cores were the ones with most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands also tended to learn quicker than other types. While they could change allegiance if won from their original master, they always stayed bond quite strongly with the current owner. Dragon wands also tended to turn towards the Dark Arts, though they would not incline that way on their own accords. It was also known to be the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

The second core was phoenix. Hermione knew that they were the rarest core type. Phoenix feather wands are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting on their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards disliked. They always were the pickiest when it came to potential owners, for the creature from which they were taken were one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands were the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance were usually hardly won.

The third, and last type of core was Unicorn hair. They usually produced the most consistent magic, and were least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores were generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They were the most faithful of all wands, and usually remained strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard. Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair were that they did not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood could compensate) and that they were prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled meaning that the hair could in some way 'die' and need replacing.

The second number concerned the type of wood that could be used and it ranged from one to forty-seven. Hermione hadn't read anything about the types of wood used to make a wand, and promised herself to look into it as soon as she got back home.

The third number was the size of the wand. This number ranged between nine and fourteen but she knew that in some particular cases, the wand could be a tiny bit smaller or a tiny bit bigger. But they were exceptionally rare cases.

The fourth and last number was the rigidity of the wand and ranged from one to nineteen and corresponded to the flexibility of the wand.

An old man with pale silvery eyes and white skin appeared from the rear of the shop. He was on top of a ladder and had a good dozen boxes of wands in his hands. He placed the box onto one of the bookshelves and climbed down the ladder.

"Miss. Thorne, broke another one of my child?" The old man inquired.

"Not today Mr. Ollivander, today, I am accompanying Miss Granger. She is muggle born and we've come to open her Gringotts account and run a few errands." Nora replied with a kind smile.

"Ah, Miss Granger. If you could just come towards the desk" Ollivander said as he took a small wooden box from underneath the counter.

He opened the box, and Hermione only caught a glimpse of a beautiful ancient wandmaking set. It was complete with the twig knife, the core intruder, the carver and the polisher. He took a small ribbon meter out of his box and with a tap of his own wand, the tape measurer took Hermione's height.

"Very well. Now if you could answer to my questions as quickly as possible." Ollivander then said as he taped the tape measurer once more and placed it back into the box.

"Alright." Hermione answered.

"Red or green"

"Red"

"Courage or passion"

"Courage is nothing without passion. But passion can be without courage"

"Effectiveness or Perfection"

"Why not both."

"Perfect. I'll be right back with wands for you to try." Ollivander said, seeming kind of impressed by her answers.

He went towards the back of the shop and a few moments later, he came with a box. Quickly, he opened it and pealed the satin ribbon protecting the wand away. He gave her a long apple wood and phoenix cored 10 and ¾ inch wand. It was carved with small square shaped pattern and the handle was covered with another type of material that resembled hide.

"Just give it a slight flick Miss Granger." Ollivander said to Hermione.

She did as she was asked and two shelves of wands collapsed to the floor, scared of what had just happened, she placed the wand carefully onto the counter.

"Nope, not apple wood. Let's go for vine wood." He said as he went to the back of the shop and took another box out.

He came back and handed once again the wand to Hermione. This time the wand had no particular carvings and looked pretty rough. She gave it a twist and the vase on top of the counter shattered to pieces. She immediately placed the wand onto the counter and gave a worried look at the man.

"Now, now, Miss Granger, you must remember it's the wand that chooses the wizard. Not the opposite. Once, it took a full month to find the perfect match. Most people need at least ten or fifteen tries before finding their matched wand. We're getting there. I thought that a Phoenix cored wand could suit you, but let's just try dragon heartstring. I don't know why, but I think it will be a match." He said to the small girl.

He returned from the back of the shop, the box he had was much dustier than the other ones. Hermione read the label and saw.

– _258_.

"Wait, - two hundred and fifty-eight. Does that… does that means?" Hermione began, as the information was being processed by her formidable brain.

"Yes, Miss Granger, it means this wand was made in two hundred and fifty-eight B.C." Ollivander said with a small chuckle.

He presented her with the wand. On the opposite of the other wands she had tried, this one had a vine leaves shaped pattern twisted around it. They seemed almost as If they were real vine leaves, only made out of wood and much, much smaller. The second she took the wand into her hand, she felt as though she could feel something travelling up and down the wand. She also felt as though she had just received a bucket of cold water over her and she shivered slightly.

"Now Miss Granger, please flick it slightly" Ollivander said.

She did so and a small crystal vase appeared onto the counter, a magnificent bouquet of red and white flowers appeared inside the vase and bloomed before their eyes. Hermione was amazed, she couldn't believe what she had just done. She couldn't believe she had just made this vase and flowers on top of the counter. For a moment, she even thought that Ollivander had conjured it up himself to get rid of her.

"Well, I think we've got it. Well done Miss Granger. You are now the lucky owner of a 10 and ¾ inches, vine wood, heartstring dragon cored, reasonably supple wand." The man said as he placed the wand back into the box.

"Do you need a holster, or you already have one?" He then asked.

"No, I don't. I'm Muggleborn so, I don't know what I'll need along with the wand." She said kind of embarrassed to admit her ignorance.

"You'll need, a wand caring set, and a holster to put your wand away when you're not using it." He said to her kindly.

"Alright, I'll take the lot." She said getting the pouch of money out of her pocket.

"So the wand, the holster and wand caring set. It's a total of 50 Galleons please." Ollivander said as he waved his wand above from a blank piece of parchment.

The piece of parchment duplicated itself and wrote themselves. The first piece looked as though it was a bill, whilst the second one was some kinds of instructions. When they were finished writing themselves, they flew towards her and she took them and placed them both in her pocket. She payed Ollivander and the two women left.

"I can't believe I finally have my wand. And such and old one. Nearly two thousand years old. It must be unique." She said excitingly.

"He seemed very impressed to the fact that the wand chose you." Nora said. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I think I'd like to go back home. Maybe you could teach me a few basic tricks. I know I am not exactly supposed to do magic, but other pupils must have learned at least some basics from their parents. I don't want to seem like a complete incompetent." Hermione said looking at Nora.

"I guess I could teach you a few basic things, but nothing too dangerous and only the basic spells." Nora said to Hermione.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Nora. I promise you I'll try my best to learn as quickly as possible." Hermione said, sparkles in her eyes.

"Alright, time to head back home then" Nora said taking Hermione's hand. "I'm going to Apparate us to your back garden. Quicker this way."

Before Hermione had the time to understand what exactly 'Apparating' was, she felt as though the ground collapsed from beneath her feet and as if the entire world was spinning around her. The next moment, she felt the ground materialize under her feet and gained her balance back.

"You're alright Hermione?" Nora asked as she was about to enter the house.

"Yeah, it's just that it is a little bit, how can I put it… discombobulating to travel like that." Hermione said to Nora laughing.

"Come on, I'll make you a hot chocolate." Nora said.

The rest of the holidays with Nora went really well and by the end of July, Hermione could do every single spell taught at Hogwarts in first years. She had tried to beg Nora to teach her a few other tricks, but Nora had refused and told her she would have plenty time once she was at Hogwarts.

On the 31st, she had dropped her off at Kings Cross station and she had taken the train off to her Grand Parent's house. She had had three wonderful weeks with her grandparents in Scotland. Her parents hadn't told her grandparents why she was to come on her own, and she had been advised not to divulge the news to her grandparents.

At the end of the three weeks, she had gone back to London and her father had come to pick her up. He dropped her off in front of the London Eye. He didn't wait to see if Professor Snape was there, and sped off in the street.

"Miss Granger." She heard a profound voice say.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

She turned around only to see the black dressed figure of Professor Snape. He was wearing practically the same outfit he had worn the first time she had seen him: a pair of black tailored pants with a knee length buttoned down coat and a pair of black dress shoes.

"Good morning Miss Granger." He greeted her, his voice somewhat a little colder than she could remember.

"Good morning Professor Snape." She replied politely "I really would like to thank you for taking the time to help me to go and get my school things." Hermione told to her Professor kindly.

"It's nothing at all Miss Granger. If you don't mind, we'll get going. I must first go to Gringotts to collect a few things from my vault, and I suppose you don't have a lot of money with you. Do you?"

"You're right. I don't think I'll go very far with only 50 Galleons." Hermione admitted to the man.

They walked for a little over one hour, most of the time silently, the silence only being interrupted by some idle talks. Professor Snape's legs being twice as long as Hermione, she had to walk twice as fast to keep up with her Professor's pace. When they finally arrived in front of the same old black pub Hermione had entered two months ago, Professor Snape opened the door from the pub and waited for Hermione to enter before doing so himself.

The pub was a lot more crowded than when Hermione had visited it for the last time. Professor Snape made a sign for her to follow him. The last thing he wanted to have to deal with was losing the Muggleborn in this crowd. The wrath he would have to endure coming from the headmaster would give him a splinting headache.

Hermione followed him to the back door of the pub where strings of wizards and witches were passing through. The archway was already opened and they went into Diagon Alley without much trouble. They headed directly to Gringotts. They first went to Hermione's vault, number 1 876 and she took 500 Galleons from her vault. She knew she would need money during the year, if only to buy Potions ingredients refills.

They then headed to vault 12. It was Professor's Snape own personal vault. He made her sign for her to stay inside the cart and wait for him, and she did just so. She saw the goblin open the vault, and although she couldn't see the entire vault, she saw that it was at least four if not five times bigger than hers.

What surprised her the most was the amount of gold that was inside it, and the few objects which she caught a glimpse of, made her catch her breath. She saw a shelf filled with books. She couldn't read the title from where she was, but she could perfectly assume that the books in display were surely first editions or even manuscripts maybe.

A few moments later, Professor Snape came out of the vault. He had a large pouch of gold and a sort of thin package. He got into the cart and they all went back up to the main floor of Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

"Alright, I think we'll better start off with your uniform. There are two shops, Twilfitt and Tatting's and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. I think you'll find a better choice at Madam Malkin's, but the choice is yours." Professor Snape advised.

"Let's go to Madam Malkin's then, if you don't mind Professor Snape." Hermione said to her Professor.

"Not at all Miss Granger. I think I'll wait for you outside. I have to run a few errands and I think you can go and get your robes on your own." Professor Snape told her.

Hermione understood perfectly. She knew it always was some kind of chore for men to go and shop for clothes or anything at all in fact. She followed him to the shop and entered it, seeing him take a turn into Diagon Alley and going up the street before disappearing out of sight.

"Hello dear, how may I help you?" A small mauve dressed witch asked to Hermione as she entered the shop.

"Oh, hello. I'll be needing three sets of plain work robes a plain pointed hat for day wear and one winter cloak. Everything in black if possible." Hermione told the witch, as she read her letter. She had skipped the gloves, as she had seen a magical animal shop and thought she would buy her gloves there.

"Oh, Hogwarts. Come along dear, we'll get you fitted. Just stand on this and I'll go fetch the robes and everything." She told to Hermione as she showed her some kind of podium in front of a large mirror.

She stood on the podium and waited for the witch to come back. There were a lot of people in the shop, and although it was a reasonably large place, it seemed too small to accommodate every customer. There were at least ten employees fitting boys, girls, men and women as rapidly as they could and two others cashing in the money and restocking the shelves.

Madam Malkin came back with the necessary garment and hanged them mid-air as though if they were onto an invisible hook. Hermione was amazed at what magic could do and stayed here, mouth wide open in surprise at how magic made one's life just that much easier.

Forty-five minutes, and 60 Galleons later, Hermione got out of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, two large paper bags filled with her purchase in her arms. Professor Snape was there, he too had made some purchases.

"Next, I think we shall be going to Flourish and Blotts, I think I remember hearing you say you liked book quite a lot." He told her, not smiling, which felt bizarre to Hermione as he had said it really nicely.

"I do love books Professor. I am very touched you remembered it." Hermione said with a broad smile. "Do you like reading too?" She then asked trying to build a conversation.

"I do like reading when I don't have to correct some dunderhead's essays, teach those dunderheads, or prepare lesson plans for them. I actually am fascinated by Muggles Physics. I think it is fascinating the way they analyse things without the use of any magic." He was interrupted by Hermione's slight giggle. "I was drooling, wasn't I. I'm so sorry Miss Granger, you must think I am terribly rude." He then said, suddenly a little embarrassed.

"No, don't worry. In my old school I rarely had the occasion to talk with people about books and my interest for them. Most of the people I knew prefer television to books." She explained with a slight hint of sadness in her voice as she thought about all what she had gone through during the last few years.

"Television?" He asked, never having heard the word before.

"Oh, sorry, it's a kind of box every Muggle has nowadays, and you can basically see moving images with sound attached to it. Nowadays, they can also transmit shows or events that are happening live, like the news. Unfortunately, most of what is on television is either dumb or intellectually numbing. So I always preferred reading books to watching television. Unlike my fellow classmates." She explained with a lot of gestures with her hands.

"I understand now. So what kind of books do you prefer Miss Granger? If you don't mind me asking you." He said, he didn't know why, but he felt as though he had known her for ages. She didn't seem to be just eleven years old. She already had as much, if not more knowledge than most of his students, and about a broad variety of subjects to add to that.

"Well I have a small weakness for fictional novels, like _Alice in Wonderland_ from Lewis Carroll. But I do like books like _1994_ from George Orwell or _The Crime of The Orient Express_ from Agatha Christie. I know it's a tiny bit cliché, but I love those books." Hermione said.

"I never heard of those authors, although, _Alice in Wonderland_ does sound extremely familiar." He interrupted himself as he stopped in front of a large window. "There we are. Flourish and Blotts, best library in Diagon Alley. I'll let you go and get your books. In the meantime, I'll just go and fetch the miscellaneous items from your list. It's getting late, and I would hate for you to run behind schedule" He informed her.

She thanked him with a nod of the head and pushed open the door to the library. She had never seen so many books in one place, and for an instant, she thought she had died and went straight to Paradise. It must have been paradise as she could clearly see that even if it was a wizarding library, they did have a Muggle book section. She headed to this part of the shop and quickly found her three favorite books. She had took a little money to buy a present for Professor Snape to thank him of what he was doing for her. After having taken the three books, she went towards a old man behind a counter.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I need a full set of Hogwarts books for first year. Do you have them in second hand exemplary?" She asked.

She had made the resolution to get all her books second hand. She was a very prevoyant person and would hate to ask anyone for money. As she didn't know how much she would need to spend for the whole of her scholarship. She wanted to make sure to buy everything she could second hand, as it was cheaper, and to sell the things she no longer needed as school years went by.

"Of course, Miss. We have all the Hogwarts school books second hand. You can come at the end of the year and drop off all the books you don't need anymore. We buy them forty percent from their original price and sell them fifty percent." The librarian informed her kindly.

"I'll take the lot then please." She said as kindly as she could. "Oh and could you gift wrap those for me separately?" She asked giving the three books she had took for Professor Snape to the librarian.

"Of course. Very good choice of book actually. It is very rare for people to interest themselves to Muggle literature. I find it very amusing, so I insisted to have at least a few shelves of those books and I find myself extremely happy and proud when someone deigns to look at them and buy one. Even more for a gift." He told her as he took his wand out and began making the parcel as neatly as possible.

"It will be one hundred galleon Miss."

Hermione gave him the money and took the five bags containing her books and cloaks before searching throughout the crowd for Professor Snape.

He was a few feet away from the shop and had now two bags filled with the rest of what Hermione would need throughout the rest of her first year.

"I know it's a tiny bit early, but I wanted to gift you with this for your birthday. I know that your parents don't support you anymore, so here you go." He said handing her a bag.

"Wow, hmm. I don't know how to thank you. I am very touched. I also got you something. To thank you of what you are doing for me. I hope you will like it" She said handing him the gift-wrapped books.

"Well thank you Hermione. I will enjoy reading them in my free time" He said after having unwrapped the books and recognized what the titles were. "Shall we go. I'll drop you by your aunt's house. I have also bought a trunk, but it is currently shrunken into my pocket." He told her. "Do you mind if we Apparate? it will be much more practical than if we had to walk or commute to your aunt's."

"Not at all." Hermione said.

He proposed his arm to her and suddenly, she felt the ground collapse under her feet and her body being twisted in different directions before finally feeling the ground materialize under her feet once more. He gave her the bags and made the trunk resume it's normal size.

"Goodbye Professor Snape, and thanks for everything." She waved him goodbye before seeing him Apparate away.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry. I've had for the first time a writer's block. Also, Alan Rickman's death anniversary is in two weeks and I have kind of been binge watching all his movies on New Year's Eve. So, my moral isn't at his best right now. But don't worry I'll post more regularly now.

Have a nice time reading.

J1974

Chapter 8

Hermione woke up in the early hours of this first of September nineteen ninety-one. She was so excited to finally discover Hogwarts and see other kids like her. She hoped that there were other Muggleborns in her year, or someone who understood her situation and could be friend with. She had realized last night, right before going to sleep that if her maths were correct, she would be in the same year as Harry Potter.

She had heard Nora talk to her about the fact that a few years ago an extremely bad and dangerous wizard, named Voldemort but whose name was not spoken of and only acknowledged as You-Know-Who. On a Halloween night, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named came to the little town of Godric's Hollow and killed Lily and James Potter. When he tried to kill their on-year old son, Harry, the curse rebounded and killed You-Know-Who.

These events had occurred ten years ago, and if her calculations were correct, it meant that she was in the same year as her. She knew that many children will be excited at this fact, but she wasn't like them and although she found the magical prowess impressive, she knew he had been sent to his Muggles relatives but no one knew who and where they were.

When her alarm clock rang six a.m. she jumped out of bed and slipped an old pair of worn-out jeans and a white t-shirt. She hesitated in putting on her jumper and ruled against it. Even if it was a little chilly in the morning of December, she knew the sun would quickly heat everything up. She checked twice that her trunk was correctly packed and that all her clothes, books and others were labelled with her name.

She had cried a little the night before, she remembered perfectly well that she had labelled her books and everything with her mother the year before. It had been a tedious task, but her father had surprised them with some chocolate mousse.

She had taken extra-care with the gifts Professor Snape had given her for her birthday and had placed it in her trunk in between her winter cloak to protect it from any possible damage. Her quills, ink and parchment were in a separate box, waiting to be used.

Her wand was inside its holster Hermione placed it on the belt of her jeans. She was careful to hide from view, as she would be first in a Muggle crowded place and would not want to attract any unwanted attention upon herself.

She then headed to the bathroom and tried to comb her hair unsuccessfully. Every morning, it was the same thing, she fought with her combs and brushes for at least a good ten minutes before giving up and tying them in a messy ponytail at the back of her head.

She remembered the time she has broke a brush in her hair and had to cut them to get the brush out of her mane. Fortunately, the next day, she had found out that her hair had grown back. First she had thought it had been a bad dream, but when she had found the brush still full of hair in the bathroom's bin, she was a tiny bit taken aback but eventually let the matter drop.

She hopped downstairs and rejoined her aunt who was preparing the table for breakfast.

"Good morning Hermione, I trust you slept well" Her aunt greeted her cheerfully.

She still didn't know about Hermione's magic. Her parents had told her she was going off to a boarding school in Scotland for precocious children. As they were both working at their dental practise, they couldn't take her to the train station and the school had proposed for a teacher to come pick her up and take her to the train station.

"Good morning Amy. I slept very well, very excited to go to school, meet new people and why not make some new friends." Hermione responded excitedly as she sat down at the kitchen counter on one of the big stools next to it.

"What do you want for breakfast? There is sausage, beans, scrambled eggs, toasts, butter, marmalade, hot chocolate, tea, bacon… Basically anything you want." She said smiling to her niece.

"I'd love some tea and toasts with marmalade and why not a little bit of scrambled egg." Hermione said, waiting for Amy to hand her the toasts and butter.

She thanked Amy once she had finished her breakfast and headed back upstairs to the bedroom where her stuff was packed and verified once last time hat all her homework were packed correctly inside her bag before taking the trunk and her backpack with her uniform and a few books she wanted to study while on the train for Hogwarts.

"Hermione, dear, Professor Snape will be there in five minutes. You're ready?" Hermione heard Amy say from downstairs.

"Yes, coming Amy. I'll just go and brush my teeth." Hermione exclaimed.

"Alright. If you need help with your trunk, I can help you get it downstairs." The witch proposed.

"I think I'll be able to manage it." Hermione told her aunt.

Her trunk had been delivered last night by delivery. She had looked at the user's manual: a neatly folded parchment booklet in one of the pockets inside the trunk. She now knew the trunk was imbued with the latest traveling charms that existed. A feather weight, shrinkable one and safety charm. She thought it had been fabulous and was relieved not to have to handle the heavy load on her own.

Once she had finished brushing her teeth, she went back to the bedroom and took her stuff. As promised, the trunk was extremely light and she carried the suitcase downstairs without a single problem.

She had just finished putting her shoes on and thanking her aunt for everything, when the doorbell rang. She walked to the door and opened it. Professor Snape was at the other side. He had a polite smile on his face. Aunt Amy greeted him and invited him inside, but he refused. Telling her they had to run along if they wanted to be on time for the train.

Hermione hugged her aunt one last time and Professor Snape took her suitcase. There was an expensive looking car parked in front of her aunt's house. It was black and the windows were tainted. Professor Snape opened the trunk and placed her suitcase in it. He then opened the right back door for her to get in the car and sit down. She did so and he checked that her seatbelt was buckled up before speeding off into the busy London.

The car ride was mostly silent. Hermione knew the man wasn't very fond of banter and only spoke when he felt there was a necessity to it. When he would speak, he would minimise the amount of words he used and go straight to the subject of interest.

They arrived at Kings Cross and he handed her a small rectangular piece of paper surrounded with golden patterns all around it. On one side of the ticket, in black ink. The words _Hogwarts Express. Platform 9 ¾ 11 a.m._ were written across it. The other side of the Ticket bared the same golden patterns around it, but this time, there were only two words: _London – Hogsmeade_.

Of course, she knew that the train arrived at the Hogsmeade station and the students were then either transported by boat, across the Lake (privilege reserved to the first years) or by carriages (for the rest of the student and the faculty) to go to Hogwarts. She thanked Professor Snape and took the ticket. He had found an abandoned trolley, had placed the trunk on top of it and was pushing it for her through the crowded station.

"Professor, can I just ask one question?" Hermione said as she looked at the dark dressed man pushing the trolley beside her.

"Of course, Miss Granger" he said slowing down slightly.

"The ticket mentions platform 9 and ¾. But there is nothing as such. Is there?" Hermione asked puzzled. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember reading anything about a platform 9 and ¾. She had fully remembered the entire Hogwarts: a history book, but never had she read about a platform 9 and ¾.

"It does exist Miss Granger. We'll have to be discreet, but it does exist. We are actually right there." He said stopping right in front of the barrier between platform nine and ten.

Hermione looked at the barrier with a conspicuous eye. She didn't understand in the slightest why Professor Snape would stop in front of a regular, plain barrier.

"Put your hands on the trolley Miss Granger and follow along." He then told her.

She had barely had the time to do as instructed, before she felt the trolley move. She followed it, not having the time to think about what she was doing. Seconds later, she saw that the normally white electric train had been replaced with a bright red steam machine train.

She looked with big round eyes at the sign on top of the barrier. It now said neither nine or ten. But 9 and ¾.

"Wow. I love magic" Hermione said, barely above a whisper.

"I love magic too. I think I can let you find your way to the train. I have to go to the teachers reserved car. Have a nice beginning of term Miss Granger." He bid her farewell and gave the trunk to one of the personnel in charge of luggage.

She jumped into the train and saw that there was only one empty compartment left. She went inside and placed her backpack into the luggage net above her head. She decided to go to the loo and immediately change into her Hogwarts robes, not willing to arrive unchanged.

When she came back into the compartment, a short, round-faced, chubby and blond-haired boy was sitting inside the compartment. He was sitting right next to the window and talking to an old woman on the other side of the window. She wore a sort of hat with a huge bird on top of it that Hermione simply qualified as gross. A long green dress with some kind of furry neckpiece covered her entire body. She had nest gloves and was holding a red tartan like bag in one of her hand.

Hermione didn't dare to enter further into the compartment. Not wanting to disturb the boy and the older woman. She didn't even know if the boy was in her year. Fortunately, the train began moving and a few second later, she came inside the compartment.

"Oh, um sorry. I thought it was empty. Do you mind if I stay?" The boy asked shyly to Hermione.

"No, don't worry. I don't mind." Hermione answered as she sat opposite the boy next to the window.

"My name is Neville. Neville Longbottom. It's my first time at Hogwarts" The boy said extending his hand to Hermione.

"My name is Hermione. Hermione Granger. It's also my first time at Hogwarts." Hermione replied before shaking his hand vigorously.

"My grandmother always tells me I'm a shame to the family name. You see I never did any real magic since I was born. Most wizards already have done some magic by the time they arrive at Hogwarts. But I never did. My great uncle Algie was so happy that I was accepted at Hogwarts, he gave me a toad to congratulate me. His name is Trevor." The boy said, showing a small box right next to him.

Hermione looked at the box for a few seconds. The walls were made out of glass and small holes had been punctured through it to let whatever was inside breathe. Unfortunately, she quickly saw that there was apparently nothing inside the box. Maybe it was an invisible one. Hermione still didn't know every type of animals that existed in the Wizarding World.

"Hmm, Neville. I don't see anything inside the box" She said prudently. Not wanting to already lose her friend.

"Oh no. Gran will kill me if I've lost it." The boy said placing his head into his hands.

"Don't worry Neville. I'll help you find it. We'll go and search for it" Hermione said opening the door of the compartment.

"Thanks Hermione. I'll owe you" Neville replied with a small smile.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hermione walked out of the compartment and into the corridor of the Hogwarts Express. As she looked through the large windows of the train, she saw that they had already foregone London and its suburbs as they were already in the countryside, passing by forests and freshly harvested fields with large straw balls randomly littering them.

She had already asked in most of the compartments if anyone had seen Neville's toad, but to no avail. As she reached the end of the train, she began to lose hope. She finally arrived at the last car composing the Hogwarts Express. She knocked at the first two compartments without any more success.

"Excuse me, have you seen a toad, a boy named Neville's lost one?" She asked as she opened the door of the third compartment.

The compartment only had two occupants. Where normally at least four or five students even were sat. They had boxes of different colours and shapes opened. Their content spilled onto the seats. She assumed they were sweets as she quickly read the word _Zonko's_ on one of the boxes and remembered it was a sweet shop extremely popular in the wizarding world.

The two occupants were both boys. The first one had jet black hair, a thin round face and wore a broken pair of glasses fixed with a bit of Sellotape. The other boy had bright red hair and was holding his wand into his right hand. It was an old wand. The wood showed it had been at least used for a decade and a silvery substance was poking from it's tip.

"Oh, you're doing magic, let's see then." Hermione said, as she sat down next on the seat opposite the red-headed boy.

She was somewhat excited and somewhat anxious about seeing someone her age do some magic. She was afraid that as she was not from a wizarding family, she would fall to far behind her other classmates.

"Here it goes!" the boy said before clearing its throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow." He said waving his wand above the rat whose head was currently inside an empty box of candies.

"Are you sure it's a real spell? Well it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me." Hermione said a little relieved the boy didn't manage to do his spell correctly. "Nobody in my family's magic, it was a real surprise when professor Snape came and informed me, I was a witch. Now it doesn't seem as strange as before. Maybe it's because I've gotten used to it… I can't really tell. I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger. And you are?"

She had gotten her little speech out at neck-breaking speed and the two boys had had a really hard time to understand it all.

"I'm Ron Weasley" The red-haired boy muttered as he ate a corned-beef sandwich he had took out of his bag which was right next to it.

"Harry Potter" the other boy introduced himself.

"Are you really?" Hermione began "I know all about you, of course… I mean, I didn't try to stalk you or anything, but I had a few books for light reading and some of them at very chapters about Dark Magic and they had to talk about you when they talked about _You-Know-Who_. You're actually in **Modern Magical History** , **The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts** and **Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century**."

"Am I?" Harry asked incredulous of

"Yes, you are…" Hermione said before stopping, leaving an awkward blank hanging in the air. "Well anyway, I'd better go back and look for Neville's toad. It can't be very far away." Hermione declared matter-of-factly.

"Oh, and you should really change yourselves. We'll soon be at Hogwarts and most of the pupils are already changed in their robes." Hermione said before closing the compartment door and returning to her compartment where Neville sat his head inside his hands.

"Don't worry Neville. I am sure we'll find your toad." Hermione tried to comfort him while rubbing his back.

"My grand mother's going to kill me. So is great uncle Algie. You see, I'm not that gifted when it comes to magic. My magic showed itself pretty late on in my childhood. Grandma thought I'd never get accepted at Hogwarts so when I got my letter to go to Hogwarts, she was so happy she told everyone in my family and great uncle Algie gave me Trevor." Neville explained. His eyes still puffed because of his earlier cry.

"Well I was also surprised when we told me I was accepted at Hogwarts. You see I'm a Muggleborn and so I thought magic didn't really exist until now. My parents aren't that happy that I am a witch, but I really want to learn all there is to know." She told him, a hint of sadness in her voice. "I heard that the Hogwarts Library was pretty impressive too. People don't really know how many books there are in it, but it is estimated at tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands according to some. I hope I'll have enough time to read a little this year. Although I know I'll put my work for and God knows how much I'll have to do this year."

"God knows? What does it mean Hermione?" The boy asked looking perplexed.

"Oh sorry, it's an expression. It means nobody really knows how much work I'll have this year." Hermione explained to Neville.

"Oh a little like Merlin knows?" The boy asked as if he had understood.

"Yeah, Nora used to say Merlin a lot instead of God. So I guess it's pretty much it." Hermione shook her head affirmatively.

The rest of the train ride to Hogwarts was pretty much silent. Neville looked out of the window, watching the landscape go by and when night had settled upon the Scottish countryside, he had taken a book out of his bag and begun reading.

Hermione had immediately taken her quill and parchment and took notes out of a book placed on the seat next to her. It was a second-hand Potions and most of the pages were either missing or covered in ink and other types of blotches. She felt confident enough in her Potions skills to try and figure out what the rest of the recipe was supposed to be, and she could always go look in the library if she had any further doubts or, in a desperate time, Professor Snape.

She had opened her book page 281 and had begun reading the pa of instruction. Fortunately enough, the page was in a good enough state she was able to read the title easily enough.

 _Draught of Living Death_

 _ **Ingredients**_

 _ **.**_ _drops of infusion of wormwood  
_ _2 ounces of powdered root of asphodel  
_ _2 teaspoon of sloth brain  
_ _12 Sopophorous beans_

 _ **Equipment**_

 _1 pewter cauldron  
_ _1 knife  
_ _1 potion vial (250 fluid ounces preferably)  
_ _1 stopper_

 _ **Instructions**_

 _1\. Heat 200 fluid ounces of water in your cauldron  
_ _2\. Add the infusion of wormwood (recipe found page 94)  
3\. __Add the asphodel  
4\. __Stir_ _ **.**_ _clockwise  
5\. __Add the sloth brain  
6\. __Add the Sopophorous bean's juice  
7\. __Stir_ _ **.**_ _times anti-clockwise_

 _Once finished, your potion should turn to a pale pink color. If your potion is slightly too dark, add a maximum of 10 drops of wormwood to your potion stirring twice clockwise and once anti-clockwise for each drop. If, on the opposite, your potion is too pale, add asphodel (maximum 1 ounce, 0.1 ounces at the time) and stir twice anti-clockwise and once clockwise after each addition of asphodel._

Hermione read the recipe thrice and began trying to rewrite the potions instructions on her piece of parchment. She first remembered having read in the preface of the book that you should always have at least 0.5 ounce of wormwood per ounces of powdered root of asphodel. After looking on page 94 the ratio of wormwood needed to make the infusion, she did her maths and quickly figured out she would need one ounce of wormwood to make her 20 drops of infusion of wormwood.

She wrote on her piece of parchment the first line completed with her corrections and read downward to the next blotch of ink. She had now to figure out how many times she had to stir clockwise after before adding the sloth brain. She remembered that she had, no matter what, to stir the potion once clockwise for every ten drops of infusion of wormwood. It meant she had to stir the potion twice clockwise before adding the sloth brain.

Then came the easiest part, figuring out how many times she had to stir anti-clockwise after the Sopophorous bean's juice had been added. She remembered she had to stir twice less than the amount she had to use. If the amount was an odd number, he had to add a half stir. She wrote the last line correctly and looked at her parchment.

The recipe was now clearly written on her piece of parchment and Hermione felt quite proud of herself. Of course, she would check if her recipe was correct the second, she would find the time to go to the library, but she felt confident enough that her recipe was indeed correct.

Suddenly, Hermione heard Neville let a gasp escape from his mouth. A magnificent stone castle was standing proudly on a hill in the distance. The windows were illuminated with slightly flickering lights and the lake underneath it reflected some of it.

Hermione let a slight 'Wow' escape her lips and put her things away briskly. Not letting the castle out of her sight. She didn't want to let this beautiful image out of her eyes. Scared that if she looked away, the castle and it's flickering lights would disappear.

Thirty minutes later, a boy wearing a full Hogwarts robe set and a golden badge where the letters _H_ and _B_ were engraved opened the door of their compartment.

"Hello, are you first years?" He asked both of them.

They nodded, a little bit impressed by the serious looking boy.

"If you would follow me to the head of the train. First years are supposed to gather there. We will be arriving at Hogsmeade train station in a few minutes and we are running on a very tight schedule. You can both leave your bags and trunks here. You will find them back in your dormitories after the sorting ceremony." The boy said to the pair after having looked at his watch.

"Thank you!" Hermione said, leaving her bag next on her seat and only taking her wand. Making sure it was secured in her holster before leaving the compartment and heading to the front of the train, followed shortly after by Neville who was now very pale.

Ten minutes later, they had arrived at Hogsmeade station and Hermione, along with the other first years got off the train.

"Right then, first years this way please" Hermione heard a giant man say loudly.

The man was at least twice as tall as an average man and three times as with. He had a long mane of shaggy black hair and a beard that covered most of his face. In one of his hand, which had approximately the size of a large cauldron lid, he was holding an old fashion lamp and waving it over the head of the students.

"Come on now first years, don't be shy, hurry up" He exclaimed. The lamp dangling furthermore into the air.

"Name's Hagrid. Welcome at Hogwarts." The giant said, once the group of first-year had gathered around him.

"If yeh would' follow me. We'll ta' the boats across the lake and to Hogwarts. Stay together and don't lose yourself" He said as he walked along the platform and into the darkness.

The group packed itself together furthermore and followed Hagrid. Soon enough, they had arrived at some kind of docks where at least thirty boats where.

"Get in, get in. Four per boats. No more" Hagrid told the kids who were all whispering excitedly at the sight of the castle standing across the lake.

Hagrid took a whole boat for himself and as soon as all the students had found a spot into a boat, he tapped the front of his boat with what looked like a pink umbrella and the boats started gliding by themselves across the lake.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The boats glided onto the plain surface of the lake. The light of the lanterns reflecting themselves in the shallow waters of the lake. The boats were heading towards a small cavern hidden away from sight by ivies and vines. As they reached where the vines and ivies met the water, the plants pulled themselves apart like two curtains of greenery in order to let the boats into the cave.

Every kid gasped in amazement at the sight of the cavern. Large torches had been set in the sides of the cavern. Each wall looked like it was embedded with precious gems. Hermione immediately saw that the colors of the gems matched the colors of each house. Rubies for Gryffindors. Emeralds for Slytherin. Sapphires for Ravenclaw, and topazes for Hufflepuff.

Once the boat where Hermione, Neville, Ron and Harry had finally docked next to a ledge, they climbed out of the boat and gathered onto the quay. Hagrid came to them and made them a sign to have them follow him.

"Follow me! Mind the steps, they can get a little slippery." The giant told the group of first years once everyone had disembarked from their boats.

The group followed the man through a large archway and into an impressive flight of stairs. They walked up the steps for a few minutes and finally arrived at a landing where a ten-meter-tall door stood. A tall black-haired woman was standing in front of the door. She was wearing an emerald green set of robes and had a very stern face. Hermione was slightly impressed by the witch. She looked as though she could literally kill just by looking at you.

"Professor McGonagall." Hagrid greeted the woman with a smile "Here are the first years." He pointed to the group of approximately forty kids.

"Very well, thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here." The woman replied with a hint of Scottish accent betraying her origins.

Suddenly, Hermione felt Neville move on her right and push through towards the front of the group of students.

"Trevor" He exclaimed before reaching for something on the ground.

When he rose back onto his feet, he now held a quite large toad in the palm of his hand. The emerald-dressed witch looked at Neville from the top of her glasses and pinched her lips as to show her disapproval.

She headed turned her back to the group of children and grabbed the large handle of the door. She pulled it and they arrived in a sort of intermediate room. She turned towards the children and waited for them to be completely silent before talking.

"Welcome at Hogwarts. School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Professor McGonagall. Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher. Now, in a few minutes, you will go through those doors and get sorted in your houses. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. Your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will cost house points. At the end of the year, the house with most points is awarded the house cup. A great honor" She explained, making sure she had the undivided attention of every single student.

"The Sorting Ceremony shall begin in a few minutes. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly" Professor McGonagall said to them before exiting the room via a small hidden door.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" She heard Harry ask to Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think." Ron replied.

"It's not some kind of test. No. They put the Sorting Hat on your head and then you are sorted into your house." Hermione said to the pair of them as though they both were idiots.

Hermione felt nervous. Of course, she had done her research on the different houses in Hogwarts, and after having studied each house carefully, she assumed she would be either sorted in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

She knew there was not a chance for her to be sorted in Slytherin as she had read the pupils in this house mainly came from Pureblood families and didn't really appreciate Muggleborn. Also, she knew she was too selfless to be sorted into Slytherin.

Gryffindor first felt as though it was a quite good house for her to be in, but she feared that her lack of courage would not get her sorted in Gryffindor, neither would her lack of bravery. She remembered once she had tried to stand up to her bullies but had failed miserably when she had stuttered right in front of them and had, instead, fled, seeking refuge in the library.

No, Ravenclaw felt as though it would be the perfect house for her. She was after all a very creative and intelligent kid. She always came up with different ways of thinking when it came to maths problems or essays. Never had she failed to complete an assignment and she had always managed to keep her grades up.

On their own accords, the doors open onto what Hermione recognized as the Great Hall. It was a large room where hundreds of kids sat alongside four huge tables. Each able seemed to have its own color theme.

She immediately recognized the different houses. From left to right, there was: Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. She marvelled at the ceiling where thousands of candles floated in mid air as if the time had been suspended. The ceiling was even more impressive than what she could have imagined. It really looked as though there was no roof and the room opened up onto the starry night sky.

"It's not real the ceiling. It's just bewitched to look like the night sky." She said to a girl who had the same bewildered expression on her face as she looked up to the sky.

At the end of the room was some sort of podium where a large table in a U shape was set. The people sitting around it were wearing all sorts of colored robes. Hermione didn't immediately recognize professor Snape who was sitting on the left of the table and was looking quite frankly bored. He wore a huge black cloak that gave him a cold and fearful appearance. Nevertheless, Hermione bowed her head to salute him and saw him reply with the same gesture.

They were all gathering up in front of the podium where a simple wooden stool was. On top of it an old and ragged looking hat had been set. Hermione looked at the hat asking herself what it was doing there.

"Now, the sorting ceremony will begin in a short instant, but before, professor Dumbledore would like to make a few before term notices" The witch said once they had all gathered up.

A tall man with half moon spectacles, long white beard and a bright red cloak stood up and cleared his throat before beginning to speak.

"First to our first years, a very warm welcome. I would like to remind to all of you that the Dark Forest is out of bound, as well as the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side of the castle. I suggest that you do not risk yourselves in any of those two locations if you do not wish to die from incommensurable pain." He said in an unconcerned tone.

"Thank professor Dumbledore, now, when I call your name, you will come forward and I'll put the sorting hat on your head. Once the hat has told you in which house you are sorted, you may go and join your fellow housemates." Professor McGonagall explained to the first years, taking the hat in one hand and with a flick of her wand making a long role of parchment unfold.

"Hannah Abbott…" She called, raising her voice slightly so that every one could hear.

Once Hannah had been sorted into Hufflepuff, fifteen other first years were called and suddenly, Hermione heard her name being called out.

'Relax Hermione. It's just a sorting. You're going to be fine' She told herself as she walked towards the stool.

She could see professor Snape from the corner of her eye. He hadn't really payed attention during the ceremony, and had talked with the professor on his left-hand side all along, only stopping when Millicient Bulstrode, Vincent Crabbe, Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein had been sorted into Slytherin. Nevertheless, he had now stopped his conversation with the other professor and was looking rather intently at her.

She sat down and professor McGonagall placed the hat onto her head. It felt as though she had tried a too small bicycle helmet. She relaxed after a few seconds and the hat began talking.

"Hmm, interesting, very interesting indeed. Muggleborn, and quite a lot of potential with that. I see intelligence, cunningness, bravery and patience. Complicated… Would you be worthy?" The hat wondered to itself. Then after a long pause "Yes, very well then… GRYFFINDOR" The hat cried out to the crowd.

The students from the Gryffindor table cheered loudly and Hermione joined them. She shook hands with a few students before turning her attention back to the Sorting Ceremony. Professor Snape had also clapped politely before returning to his conversation with the man beside him.

When the rest of the student had been sorted and Professor McGonagall had taken the hat out of the room and sat back down at the front table, she took her knife and tapped it against the glass.

"Your attention please" She said in a calm voice that made every single student stop speaking.

"May the feast, begin" Professor Dumbledore said after having stood up from his chair and extended his arms before him, making the food appear in front the students.

A collective _wow_ erupted into the room and Hermione looked at the food before her with large eyes. She had never seen such an abundance and variety of food. Already, her table neighbors who happened to be Harry and Ron were helping themselves with the different dishes proposed to them.

Neville had the politeness of proposing her of every dish before helping himself with it. She found that it was very kind of him and made herself the promise to be his friend. It would be a nice change from the pupils of her old school.

She was helping herself with some spinach when she heard Harry talk to Percy.

"Say Percy, who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrel?" He asked curiously.

Hermione looked at Harry and saw he was pointing to Professor Snape. She was about to answer, but Percy was way quicker.

"Oh, _that_ is Professor Snape, head of Slytherin house." Percy answered casually.

"What does he teach?" Harry then asked.

"Potions, but _everyone knows_ it's the Dark Arts he fancies." Percy then said to Harry.

"He doesn't" Hermione intervened. "I mean, I think he is merely _interested_ , I never saw a man with such interest. You should see the way he talks about Potions, fascinating. I tend to react a little like that when I speak about books."

"Really, does he. Anyways. You better be careful and not try to cross him, he will literally try to find _**any**_ excuse to take points off of Gryffindor. Last year a girl let her quill fall to the ground. He took 50 points from Gryffindor and she had a month worth detention for, and I quote 'disturbing in an unnecessary and deliberate way the class'. I know, crazy huh" Percy told Harry who now looked at Professor Snape as though he was a foe.

Ron's scream made them change their point of interest. Hermione found he had had a good reason to scream as the translucid head of a ghost had appeared through the dish of chicken wings.

"Good evening, my name is Sir Nicholas" The ghost said bowing to the new Gryffindor students.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Welcome to Gryffindor." The ghost then continued with a broad smile. "I trust you're happy with your sorting" he then said looking at the food with intent full eyes. "This looks delicious. If only I could have a bite, oh glorious day!" He smiled sadly.

"By all means, serve yourself" Harry said to the ghost, handing him the dish of chicken wings.

H

"I can't, I actually haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years" he replied sadly "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it."

"I know who you are, you're Nearly Headless Nick" Ron intervened.

"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas." He corrected him, a little crossed

" _Nearly_ Headless, how can you be _nearly_ headless?" Hermione wondered.

Sir Nicholas now looked deeply annoyed at the Gryffindor pupils. Never had he been the victim of such little respect in the two-hundred and sixty-eight years he had haunted the castle.

"Like _this_ …" He finally said, taking his ear in his hand and pulling on it.

The entire head swung onto his shoulder like a door on its hinge. It was now obvious that someone had tried to behead the poor man, but had miserably failed to do so properly. Once he was sure every pupil had been disgusted for a little while, he let go off of his ear and the head swung back into place. He then hovered away from the table, quite pleased with himself.

"So, _Hermione_ , that's right?" Percy asked before continuing after seeing her nod her head slightly. "Do you have any questions about Hogwarts?"

"Well, I do have a lot of questions, especially about class. I am kind of worried my grades won't be high enough for me to pass my O. , I also am a little worried about my orientation. What will I do after my O. .? When I was little, I always wanted to become a librarian, right now, I don't have any idea. I _do_ hope they start lessons straight away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult, but I do hope that with the little practise I got over summer, I'll be able to cope with it" She explained to Percy, before stopping rather abruptly, aware that she was bantering.

"Well, I have no doubt you will be a very good student Hermione. My brother, Ron, he doesn't seem to worry a lot about his grades. He actually didn't study anything during the holidays. No, he rather played Quidditch with his brothers." Percy explained to Hermione, clearly desperate about it.

"What's Quidditch?" Hermione asked puzzled.

She hadn't read anything about it and was worried she had missed something big in her learning of the ways of the wizarding world. She looked worriedly at Percy who kept his stern face on.

"Quidditch is a sport played on broomsticks, they have to score goals through three large hoops and the game only ends when the seeker catches the snitch. The snitch's worth 150 points. But don't worry, you haven't missed anything if you don't know anything about Quidditch. I would rather have you stay in the library and learn useful thigs anyways." Percy told her as if it wasn't a big deal, which quite frankly reassured her quite a lot.

One hour later, they had all finished their meals and Percy gathered them all up into a tight group at the end of the Great Hall. They turned left and arrived into a large stair well. There were countless number of stairs, going in every single direction.

"Wow" Harry said under his breath, impressed by the set up in front of his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Look, the pictures, they're moving!" A boy behind her exclaimed, as he pointed to the painting of a black dressed woman.

"Gryffindors, keep up please. The most direct path from the Great Hall to the Gryffindors dormitories is this way. Follow me please, and do mind the steps, they do like to change!" He said after a brief pause.

But the pupils weren't listening to him, everyone was looking around him, taking in the grand setting offered by the impressive stairwell. Left and right, paintings were greeting them, the women by a small reverence, the men by a bow of their heads. Some of the paintings brave enough to say hello to them.

"Right, here is the entry to the Gryffindor's dormitories, you should be back, no later than 9 p.m. on week days, and 10 p.m. during the weekend." Percy told them, after having stopped right before the portrait of a woman clothed in a toga like dress and with bits of vines dangling from her elaborate bun.

"Oh, first years! Mr. Weasley, you absolutely _must_ hear my ode. It is simply divine…" The woman said in a high-pitched voice.

"My dear lady, you know perfectly I can't do that right now, I have to show to the first years the amenities of the dormitories, and..." Percy began to argue as politely as possible.

"It won't take long my dear boy… hmm, hmm…" The woman cleared her voice before beginning to sing.

Her voice was, politely said, not the best one Hermione ever heard. She couldn't retain a small cringe and saw that all around her, the other pupils had had the same reaction.

The ordeal took a good ten minutes. When she was finally finished, all the pupils clapped, happy they were over that. Percy was now tapping impatiently with his foot. He hadn't dared interrupt her as it had once happened for the pupils to be stuck outside of the Gryffindor's dormitories for a whole night after having interrupted the Fat Lady as they all called her.

"Caput Draconis" Percy said.

"Alright, alright. Get in…" The lady in the portrait finally said.

The portrait swing towards the left, leaving a large enough opening for the students to enter into a large circular room decorated in gold and red. Large sofas were arranged in front of a large fireplace and tables with large chairs surrounded the room. Hermione immediately thought about how great it would be for her to come down here and study for her different subjects. She wondered briefly about how she was supposed to study for potions and promised herself to ask Percy the question.

"This, is the Gryffindor's common room. It is where you will spend all your free time. You will be able to study and celebrate with the other Gryffindor's students. Now, for the dormitories. Boys, upstairs and down to the left, girls, the same on your right. Breakfast is served at 7 a.m. and your first class begins at 8:15 a.m., you will find that your belongings have already been brought up. Up you go now!" Percy said before letting the students go passed him and into their respective dormitories.

"Errm, I am sorry to disturb you Percy, but could you tell if there is any place where we can study for potions, or do we have to go to the dungeons?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry, there is a lab for the whole Gryffindor student body. It is in the room next to the library, that's that door on your left. It's opened from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m." Percy explained to her before taking his leave and disappearing into the left staircase.

Hermione climbed the stairs up to the designated girls' dormitories and entered a large circular room with ten large beds covered in red and gold quilts. She was amazed. It looked better than what she imagined it would. In front of each bed were their respective trunks. Hermione looked for her own and opened it quickly. She knew there was a spell that would spare her the tedious task of organizing her things, but she preferred doing this the muggle way.

On the side of the bed was a large wardrobe. Hermione opened it and immediately began sorting her clothes, books and other miscellaneous equipment into it. She was careful to put professor's Snape's books in order and her school books separate. Her robes hanged onto standard hanger and she made sure they were nice and clean for the next day.

Next to the shrank, Hermione saw a large basket made out of threaded wood. A small label was stuck on the lid.

 _All clothes placed in this basket will be dry cleaned and returned to you the following day. If you have any request, simply write it on a piece of parchment and place on top of this basket._

Hermione wondered for a brief moment how the dry-cleaning service worked around at Hogwarts before her attention was captured by something else. On the other side of the bed was a chair where, on top was her Gryffindor colored uniform. There was at least ten plain white shirts, two red and gold striped ties, gloves with a red and yellow trimming, and five patches which she will have to stick to her uniform. The patches represented a lion onto a plain red backdrop, and below it was printed in big letters _GRYFFINDOR_.

She finished organizing her stuff and took her pajamas and toilet necessary out of the cupboard. She went towards a door opposite the main entry and entered. There was a large bathroom with ten shower stalls and ten sinks. As for the bed, each bathroom installment was labeled with their name. Hers was next to Lavender's Brown's one and was the one the closest from the window.

She made her nightly ablutions and when she went back inside the dormitory and found out that the rest of the girls had entered the dormitory and were now putting their things away as Hermione had done thirty minutes before.

"Oh, hello, I don't think we've met. My name's Parvati Patil, but you can call me Parva. And this is Lavender Brown, you can call her Lave. What's your name?" A girl with a bright smile told Hermione, showing in the meanwhile another girl with long braided hairs and an equally big smile.

"I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger. Unfortunately, I am afraid I don't have any nicknames. In my old school everyone called me Know-It-All or teacher's pet, but they didn't like me at all." Hermione explained to them a little sadly.

"Don't worry, we'll find a nickname for you. What about 'Mione? It's short, it's cool and I like it." Lavender, or shall we say Lave, told Hermione.

"I like it too!" Hermione exclaimed before giggling.

They chatted for another good twenty minutes before seeing how late it was and saying it would probably be wise to call it a night. The other girls went to the bathroom and Hermione slipped under the covers of her large bed.

The next day, they all waked up at 6:30 a.m., Hermione had slept wonderfully well and wanted to be early at breakfast to get her timetable. She dressed into her brand-new uniform and had a little bit of troubles with her tie but quickly enough got the hang of it and tied it. She made sure she had her wand and at least her all-purpose notebook alongside three quills and her inkwell safely packed away into her bag before heading to the Great Hall.

She helped herself with the help of Sir Nicholas whom she had met after she had lost herself inside the labyrinth that Hogwarts was and he indicated her the _Cartus_ charm that many of the student used.

It was a spell that produced a piece of parchment that could be assimilated to the muggle's G.P.S, only more accurate and without the annoying robotic voice that kept telling to _please turn around as soon as possible_.

She thanked the ghost profusely and sat down at the Gryffindor's table. Breakfast had already been served and the table was littered with rows of toasts and different dishes. Hermione looked at the table with big eyes.

She was certain, her Hogwarts years were going to be the best of her life.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Professor McGonagall was now approaching her. She had a stack of plain blank parchment floating behind her.

"Good morning Miss Granger. I am Professor McGonagall and I will be your House's Head. Professor Snape told me to wish you the best for the beginning of term and wishes to see you at the end of the month to overlook your first few weeks of class and help you on any difficulty you may have. I just have a few papers to give to you before the term starts. If you could fill them out and give them back at the end of the week, it would be most amenable." The green dressed witch said, waving her wand over the stack of paper.

"Good morning Professor McGonagall. I'll be sure to return them to you as soon as possible."

They bid each other farewell and parted. Hermione sat down at the table and carefully put the parchments away. She didn't want them to get dirtied in the crumbs or juices spills provoked by uncareful student during breakfast.

She ate her breakfast with great appetite and took the papers out of her bag. In total, there was five sheets of parchment of warrying lengths. The three first were the complete rules of Hogwarts. Hermione promised herself to read them later on when she had a little more free time.

The two other sheets were her classes schedule. She looked over them quickly and saw that she would be having double Potions with professor Snape. She was a little reassured at that as she felt as though he could guide her through her first potion. Of course, she had learned the whole entire manual entirely by heart, but she also knew that practice was much harder then theory. One second of inattention and your potion could go very badly.

Harry and Ron had joined her at the breakfast table. Harry had had the same look on his face when he had seen the abundance of food he was presented with. Professor McGonagall had approached them and handed out the same set of papers than she had handed Hermione before excusing herself.

"We 'ot 'otion 'irsht. Fre' an' Georshe tol' me Schnape ru'hish" Ron said, his mouth filled with some beans

Hermione was positively disgusted by him. He was spitting a little food all over the papers Professor McGonagall had given them and she hadn't understood a single word that had come out of his mouth.

"Sorry, could you repeat that with an _empty_ mouth?" She asked, completely grossed out.

"I was saying that we've got Potions first and that Fred and George told me Snape's rubbish." He articulated, once his mouth had been cleared of any hint of food.

"Professor Snape is no rubbish. He was employed by Dumbledore, whom many consider him as the greater wizard of all time since Merlin. I don't think Professor Dumbledore would actually hire a 'rubbish' Potions Master. Anyway, you better finish your breakfast soon. Classes begin in fifteen minutes" Hermione said before standing up, taking her satchel and exiting the Great Hall.

She found her way to the dungeons with the help of her enchanted GPS. The door of the class was closed.

It was an old dark oak wooden door. Onto it was wrote in white paint:

 _Potions, Professor S. Snape_

She waited by the door, and soon enough the other pupils began arriving to the dungeon classroom. Most of them actually had had a great trouble in finding the classroom and had been guided by a ghost of a Prefect.

Suddenly, a latch was opened at the other end of the door and the said door spun onto its hinge with a resounding creak.

The classroom was empty and the students waited a few seconds onto the threshold of the door. Hermione was the first one to get inside the classroom. She immediately went for the first row and sat in the middle of the row of tables.

"Hmm, ex… excuse me, it this seat taken?" Neville asked pointing to the seat on her immediate right.

"No, go ahead sit down." Hermione answered with a bright smile.

"I hope he's not too…" Neville began before being interrupted by the sound of the door crashing into the wall.

Hermione hadn't even remarked it being closed, every head were turned towards the door where Professor Snape had crashed through. He wore a long billowing cloak that gave him a bat like silhouette that for a second scared Hermione.

"There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class." He exclaimed without even addressing them a good morning. "As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle silent and exact art that is potion making. However, for those select few…" at that word he turned his head towards a platinum blond-haired boy directly in front of him. "who possess the predisposition… I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death…"

His voice had been soft. Not once had he raised his voice, barely above a murmur. Even so, nobody had talked during his little speech. The classroom had stayed completely silent. Suddenly, his head jerked to one side of the room, and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident to. Not. Pay. Attention." He said walking towards where Harry sat.

Harry had been taking notes of what Professor Snape had said and was continuing to copy into his notebook what he was saying. Hermione who was sitting directly on his left, jabbed him an elbow in the rid and nodded her head towards Professor Snape.

"Mr. Potter, our new… celebrity." Professor Snape said, his voice barely above a murmur. "Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" he asked, this time his voice resuming its habitual volume.

Hermione immediately rose her hand. She quickly remembered reading about it in one of her school books. Harry, however looked as if he had no idea of what Professor Snape was telling him. As far as he was concerned, the Potions Master could have spoke to him in Chinese, he wouldn't have known any better. He looked at Hermione and shook his head.

"You don't know. Well let's try again… Where, Mr. Potter would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"

Once again, Hermione rose her hand. This was too easy. She could even remember the page on which the properties of the bezoar where in her Potions book. Harry was, as the first time, completely clueless about what a bezoar could even be.

"I… I don't know, Sir"

"And what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"I don't know Sir" Harry said once more.

"Pity, clearly, fame isn't everything… Is it Mr. Potter? Miss Granger, do not be a dunderhead and answer to my questions."

"Well, Sir, if I remembered correctly. You asked what you would get if you added powdered roots of asphodel to an infusion of wormwoods. I think, if my memory's functioning correctly that you would get a sleeping potion extremely powerful known as the Draught of Living Death. Then, you asked where he would look if you asked him to find a bezoar. _I_ would look into the stomach of a goat, the bezoar is a stone that can save someone from most poisons. As for the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane, I do believe that there is strictly are no difference as both refer to aconite, but then again… I could be wrong…"

She had gotten her little speech out with total assurance in her voice. Everyone of the students were now looking at her.

"Well, Miss granger here surely has shown that by learning, you achieve. Gryffindors, you'll be awarded five points for your classmate's intelligence. However, I hope that you all listened carefully at what Miss Granger just told you…" He told them waving his hand over the desk.

Suddenly, each student were faced with a blank piece of parchment with three questions. The exact same question he had just asked to Hermione.

"Well, what are you waiting for, you have ten minutes to answer this pop quiz. Once your finished, you may open your books page 394 and begin preparing a batch of cure for boils. Once you are done, you may begin your research on bezoar. I will ask a twenty-inch essay on the subject for next class."

He had spoke of a menacing tone and immediately, the students began answering to the pop quiz. Once the ten minutes had passes, he collected the tests and was greatly displeased to see that most of the students hadn't even tried to answer to the quiz.

"Now, I hope that you will be better at making a potion when instructions are given to you…" he said after having collected all the papers and having vanished them once again wandlessly to his office.

Hermione had already gone to the cupboard where all the ingredients for Potion making were stored. She took the necessary and went back to her table, opened her book page 394 and began making her Draught of Living Death. Thirty minute later, she had a full batch finally ready. She poured her potion into the vials and handed them to Professor before returning to her table to clean up the instruments she had used.

Her cauldron was now upturned onto the drying rack and her book was opened on page 26. She had placed a Potion repellant charm onto her book to prevent any hazardous potions to damage it.

Two hours later, the bell rang and every student began to clean their things up.

"What do you think you're doing?" Professor Snape asked angrily.

"Sir, the bell rang, and we've got Transfiguration next…" Ron tried to explain to Professor Snape.

"Mr. Weasley, sit down. I won't accept anymore insolence coming form you. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor. From now on, you will wait until _I_ tell you're allowed to go. Is it understood?" He asked menacingly, bedding over to where Ron was sat.

"Yes, sir." The class answered in unison.

"You may go… _Calmly_." He said, insisting on the calmly. "And don't forget your essay on bezoar for next class."

Everyone nodded and cleared their workstation before heading out of the classroom. Hermione had already finished her essay, but she had chosen not to hand it in immediately, preferring to double or triple check the information she had found in her book.

"Miss Granger, stay for a moment please. Don't worry, I'll give you a note for Professor McGonagall." Professor Snape called after her just as she was about to exit the classroom.

Hermione stayed behind and once every student had left the classroom, he conjured up two chairs and invited Hermione to sit in one, while he took the seat opposite her.

"So, Miss Granger, I never would have thought you had the answer to all those questions. Plus, I looked over your Potion, I must say I'm quite impressed. Keep up the good work… Well, I would rather you hurry up in class, you might be lucky enough to arrive in time to your Transfiguration class. Good day Miss Granger, and see you on Thursday."

"Thank you, sir." Hermione said, rising from her chair and placing her satchel onto her shoulder.

She used once again the enchantment Sir Nicholas had taught her and managed to find the Transfiguration classroom right before the bell rang. Once again, the teacher wasn't in the classroom. She spotted Neville a few meters ahead and joined him

"What did he want from you?" Neville asked to Hermione before taking a seat in the first row.

Hermione didn't have the time to reply, as the voice of a woman with a thick Scottish accent, made everyone spun around in their seat. The voice had come from the door of the classroom. There, stood a tall witch in emerald green robes. A large pointy hat was perched on top of her head and her left hand was holding a finely carved wand.

"Transfiguration is the art of transforming an object or a living creature into something else. I will first teach you about the theory and during the next class, we will try switching a match into a needle. Now, you may open your books page one and copy down the lesson, then, I want you to do exercise one to ten. Once your finished, raise your hand, and I'll come to check if your work is correct."

They all opened the book, and that's when the most extraordinary thing happened. Where Professor McGonagall had stood now was a magnificent tabby cat with two circle shapes around its eyes, matching the shape of Professor's McGonagall glasses.

"Wow…" Hermione let escape. "I wish I could do that."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey guys, it's me again. I am so sorry I didn't write more lately but I have been going through a hard time with my studies and my personal relations. I know I should write more, but I just hadn't the heart to do so and I didn't want to write something and be unhappy with the result. I am not really sure when I'll be updating this story but I can tell you that this story is going to be finished, I just don't know exactly when. Thanks for reading me and do tell me if you like my story…

J1974

Chapter 13

 _Three years later_

A few hours before, Harry had won the Triwizard tournament and returned with the body of Cedric Diggory. She had told the boys that she needed to take a walk to clear her head, and had decided to go walk near the lake. Suddenly, she heard leaves move next to her. Immediately, her wand was pointed towards the bush, the leaves moved again and a few seconds later, Professor Snape was emerging from the bush. He was bleeding and barely alive.

"Professor Snape? What happened to you?" Hermione asked lowering her wand and rushing towards her professor's side to assess his injuries.

His clothes were covered in blood and she didn't know where to begin. She helped him lie down on the ground and tried some minor healing spell she had learned from her books, but as soon as she would have finished completing the spell, the gashes would open themselves again and more blood would pour out of the wound.

"Professor, I must take you to Madam Pomfrey…" Hermione said before being interrupted by the man lying down.

"No… breast pocket… red… then… green vial" he said, his voice raspy.

Hermione looked at him as to ask permission and when he had nodded in agreement, she opened the first few buttons of his jacket. She gasped when she saw the blood had completely soaked his usually white shirt. When she finally had access to his breast pocket, she took the two vials inside it and uncorked them before giving them to Professor Snape.

After a few seconds, the gashes hissed and closed themselves. His extremely pale complexion filled with the tiniest hint of color and Hermione let out a relieved breath. He was saved, for now.

"Professor, I'll call Dumbledore…"

"No" he said, his voice filled with what looked like terror.

"I can't take you to your rooms on my own, and I am not going to leave you there, what would happen if you start bleeding out again?" Hermione asked before being interrupted by Professor Snape.

"I can Apparate" he said simply, his voice a little less raspy than before.

"But… how, you're not the headmaster, only him can Apparate inside the Hogwarts walls. If you tried to Apparate now, you would splinch yourself and…" Hermione blurted out rapidly.

He raised his hand and immediately, Hermione stopped.

"Take my arm." He simply instructed her, presenting one of his arms to her.

She took it without a second thought and hoped that he really knew what he was doing. And few seconds later, she felt the entire world around her spin as they Apparated to his private quarters. They landed rather unceremoniously onto the carpet. Snape tried to get up, but he immediately fell down back onto the carpeting, his fall only broken by Hermione who reached out just before his head would hit the hardwood floor of his living room.

She helped him onto the sofa just behind them and with the help of a Scourgify charm vanished the blood from his clothes. That's when she saw that his clothes had been also damaged by the assault he had endured.

He immediately tried to close his coat back onto the shirt to hide his ripped shirt and the pale skin covered by dark colored scars. Hermione took her book bag and opened it before taking a small glass jar out of it. She unscrewed the cap and placed the jar next to Professor Snape on the coffee table.

"It's a salve of my own invention… I made it for Harry when he injured himself, and it worked quite decently, he doesn't need it anymore so…" Hermione tried to explain to her professor

He took the jar and smelled what was stored in it doubtfully. He didn't know what to tell her. Yes, they had gotten closer over the last year and the one before that when she had come to him to ask him for extra potions lessons, but he still had acted like a proper git and he knew that perfectly well.

"Thank you…" he said "Miss Granger, I think that I owe you some kind of explanation as to why I came back in this state tonight. But first, please sit down." He told her showing the lounge chair across to where he was sitting.

Hermione sat down and Professor Snape lit a fire wandlessly into the empty chimney, he then clapped in his hands and a house elf appeared. He asked for a nice pot of tea and the elf left with a light pop. A few seconds later, the elf came back and laid the tray onto the table before leaving with another soft pop.

Professor Snape poured some tea inside a cup and handed it to Hermione who took it with a small thank you.

"So, what do you know about what happened with Cedric Diggory?"

"Nothing much really, I haven't really spoke to Harry for the moment…" Hermione admitted.

"Alright, as you surely know, Cedric Diggory didn't drop dead on his own accord. Actually, it's the Dark Lord himself who killed him. He came back tonight. What you don't know is that the cup was actually a portkey that led to the Dark Lord. He had only planned for Harry to manage to reach the trophy. Diggory wasn't supposed to be there. Mr. Diggory tried to stop him, but the Dark Lord killed him. Then, the Dark Lord wanted to have a little fun as he would put it. He duelled with Harry, and I don't know why, but neither managed to win. During the short instant when the Dark Lord was not battling, Harry grabbed the cup and Mr. Diggory's body and came back here, at Hogwarts… I think that you know the rest…" He said calmly, staring at the bottom of his now empty tea cup.

"How do you know all this?" Hermione asked worried.

Snape unbuttoned the left cuff of his coat, then did the same with the left cuff of his shirt. She looked at his arm and let a soft gasp leave her lips when she saw the dark tattoo of a snake coiling around a skull. Involuntarily, she flinched and looked a little away. She knew not why she had done this, but she did. He looked at her, his eyes filled with a mixture of sadness and understanding.

He was about to cover his arm by buttoning his cuff back when Hermione did something that startled him. She placed her hand directly on the head of the snake that was coiling around the skull and that made him stop his gesture.

"No, don't hide it… I don't know why you did this, but if you're showing it to me, it means that you trust me and that you aren't really on their side." She said, looking straight into his eyes.

He was completely startled, never someone had reacted like that. Most of the people who had seen it had actually pretty much run away from him, even Lily. Suddenly he realised that the person in front of him was not Lily, he had allowed her to get too close. He shouldn't have opened up to her. She was his student, not Lily.

"Miss Granger, remove your hand from my person _immediately_ and get out of my quarters. Also, if you tell anyone about what happened tonight, I swear on my magic you'll rule the day you were born." He said, raising from the lounge, taking his arm out of her grasp before raising himself from the lounge where he had been sitting a few minutes ago.

Hermione was speechless, how could he do that, a few seconds ago he was opening up to her, and now, he was just kicking her out. She knew that she shouldn't have placed her hand on his mark, but she had felt him so lost and angry, and possibly sad. She just wanted to help him for once. To pay him back for all what he did in the last years for her.

She quickly put her things together before looking at him one last time and leaving through the main door. She didn't really know where she was so she decided to cast her mapping charm. Once she had reached her dormitory, luckily not running into anyone, she changed herself and went straight to bed.

She didn't manage to go to sleep. She was replaying this day's events in her head, again and again. She remembered the look in his eyes when she had flinched at the sight of his mark. The sadness and understanding at her gesture made her want to throw up at herself. He had done so many things for her and now she felt like she had abandoned him completely.

 _The next day, in potions class_

"Tell me Mr. Potter, why aren't you paying attention when I speak? Does the Boy-Who-Lived also thinks he can be the Boy-Who-Pays-Absolutely-No-Attention-In-Any-Class-Because-He-Thinks-He-Is-Better-Than-Anyone?" Snape asked rather abruptly to Harry.

"No, Sir" Harry answered rather cheekily from Hermione's point of view.

"50 points from Gryffindor" Snape said without a second of hesitation.

"But Sir…" Hermione tried to argue with him.

"Detention Miss Granger. You'll stay after class to discuss the details. For now, you will all begin to brew an antidote to Amortentia. You may go and collect the required ingredient now, and start brewing immediately after you came back to your desk." He said, without a glance towards Hermione.

Hermione glared at him for a few instants before going to the room where all the ingredients were stored and collecting the necessary items. Once she was finished brewing, her anger had dissipated a bit and she was now pouring the content of her cauldron inside a small vial. She went quickly to the desk where Snape was and placed the labeled vial onto it.

As she packed her things in her bag, she heard Professor's Snape voice echo through the room.

"Miss Granger, where do you think you're going? Have I not told you to stay after class to discuss the details regarding your detention?" He asked menacingly low.

"Yes sir" Hermione said, getting her stationery kit out of her bag and beginning the essay they had been asked to do by Professor McGonagall.

Once all the pupils were out of the room, Snape stood from his desk and walked slowly towards Hermione. Once he had reached Hermione's desk, he warded the door and leaned casually on the desk.

"Miss Granger, it seems that you have forgotten your manners. Since your arrival here at Hogwarts, and more generally in our world, I have taken you "under my wing" as some would say. I even housed you for a few days last summer when your parents didn't come and collect you from the Hogwarts Express. Cheek is not the way I would have thought you would repay me. Actually, I can say that I am quite disappointed with you…" He let the last words float into mid air, knowing full well what effects they were having on the student right in front of him.

"Since yesterday you've acted like a complete and utter prick Sir. _I_ healed you, _I_ helped you. Alone, because, if you don't remember, you begged me not to call Dumbledore or Madam Pomfrey. I know you helped me. Believe me, I do, and I will be forever thankful. But that doesn't mean you get to act like this with me. And don't try and act like you're the most dangerous person here, because I'm not scared of you." Hermione said, letting all her anger go.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"100 points from Gryffindor Miss Granger, argue and I shall double the loss." He said, not raising his voice the slightest bit, making Hermione shiver in anger and fear. "Now, as for your detention, it'll take place tonight, as you might know it's the full night and I require a particular ingredient that can only be harvested on this particular night…"

"What do you need werewolf's blood for, sir? The only potion that requires werewolf's blood is extremely dangerous and difficult to make, and…" Hermione began, going back to her Know-It-All self.

"Miss Granger, I am the only Potion Master in the whole of the United-Kingdom. I do think that I know what werewolf's blood is used for… you might know that it is commonly used to brew poisons, what you don't know is that it can be used as a counter poison too. Now, I do believe you have class, let me write you a note…" He had said almost as if she hadn't blatantly insulted him a few moments ago.

He handed her a note, she picked up her books bag and left the room hurriedly without a second glance back at him. She knew that she had crossed the line, it wasn't like her to insult a teacher like that. She should have controlled her emotions, but it was so damn difficult for the moment. She didn't know why, but when she had seen him hurt like that, her stomach had churned.

She shook the thought away and went to her next class: Arithmancy. She loved that class, the fact that magic was relying on extremely complex maths equations made her very fond of this class. Professor Vector, was also one of the best Arithmancer in the country. She was currently teaching them how to translate a charm into an equation and how to make it better

While most of the class had chosen some basic charms like Alohomora or Wingardium Leviosa, Hermione had chosen a much more difficult charm: Accio. She had already transfered the charm into the equation and was now looking to have it reach from a further distance.

She walked up the steps of the north tower and knocked on the door of the classroom. When she heard professor's Vector voice on the other side of the door, she came in the room and handed the note to her before going to her desk and setting up her things quickly.

She took her equations out and presented it to Professor Vector who was passing through the rows of chair, and correcting their works.

"Well done Miss Granger, you've managed to transfer Accio into the correct equation. Now what do you want to improve in this formula?" Professor Vector asked to Hermione, a slight smile on her lips.

"Well, professor, I thought I could expand the distance at which the spell works. You see, often pupils forget their books in their dorms and for some of them, simple Accio spell is impossible to use because their stuff is too far away for the spell to work." Hermione explained to Mrs. Vector.

"I think it is a brilliant idea Miss Granger. Don't forget to take the Sptimium Law and the Composite Charms Law into your calculations. Actually, could you recite those both law for me. Let's say that if you get the answer correct, I'll count it as extra credit." The witch asked with a glint of malice in her hand as she conjured a clipboard out of thin air without a single word or wand movement.

"Of course, Professor. The Septimium Law says that it is possible to lengthen the distance of one's charm only by doubling the strengthening of the charm and focusing the potency of it accordingly. It means that for the Accio Charm, I must strengthen the core magic of it and make it so that it's a lot more precise. If I didn't respect that law, the targeted object would not soar towards me, rather all the objects that had a similar use and shape." Hermione answered before looking at her professor for a sign that she had been right and that she could continue.

"Very impressive. Now the Composite Charms Law, if you please."

"Of course, the Composite Charms Law says that for any Composite Charms, the core magic used in the using of those Charms can only be strengthened by multiplying the magic needed to perform the Charm, unless the formula is changed to be more precise. Are considered Composite Charms any charms conjuring up an object out of thin air or summoning one." Hermione explained once again, smiling after to her Professor.

"Miss Granger, it's an O once again. I'm very impatient to see how you manage to expand the reach of the Summoning Charm. Good Luck." She said, writing on her clipboard before walking away and looking at another student's work.

Hermione worked on her task for the rest of the hour and when the bell rang, she had already included the Composite Charm Law to her calculations by changing the incantation from _Accio_ to _Evocatio longinquo aucta_.

She packed her stuff in her bag and left the classroom, bidding Professor Vector goodbye. She quickly went to the Great Hall where the dinner was being served and sat next to Harry and Ron. Both of which had already taken large amount of food on their plates and had begun eating eagerly.

"Blimey 'Mione, whatever has taken you so long?" Ron asked between two forks of beans.

"I had Arithmancy class Ron, you know, like every day." Hermione replied quite annoyed at Ron.

"Sorry 'Mione. By the way, what's your punishment with the greasy git?" Ron asked, a hint of compassion in his voice.

"I only have to help him tonight to collect ingredients for some potion he has to make." She said, helping herself with the food from the dishes in front of her.

She played with her food, not eating much. There was not much chatter as all of them were still under the shocking news of Cedric Diggory's death. Suddenly she remembered her detention with Professor Snape and she bade her friends goodnight before taking her book bag and sprinting towards the dungeons.

Ten minutes later, she was in front of the door leading to Snape's classroom. She took a small moment to rearrange her disheveled clothes before knocking on the dark wood the door was made of. The door of the office flew open and the Snape appeared on the threshold, looking visibly angry at her.

"Miss Granger, just in time." He told her rather harshly.

"I'm sorry, I was caught up in my meal." She said, trying to not be punished further more.

"Anyways, you can leave your bag here, we will come back and fetch it once we've collected the werewolf's blood." He informed her.

She laid her bag on one of the neighbouring and took only her wand with her. Snape had a small pouch in his hand.

"Come along Miss Granger, and please do stay close to me. We've already lost a student and I don't think the Headmaster would be very glad if you died to because of a dunderhead like mistake of yours." Professor Snape told her, opening the door and making her sign to get out of the office.

Twenty minutes later, the both of them were on the border of the Forbidden Forest. The night had fallen a long time ago and although they were in June, the air surrounding Hermione was extremely cold. She shivered a little, but Snape didn't see.

"Now, Miss Granger, be aware. Look around you all the time. If you see a werewolf, tell me and we'll see how to approach it to take some of it's blood."

Hermione's heart clenched. It was still a human being that they were going to harm. A werewolf was a man that had no choice but to transform into a werewolf when the full moon came. She knew that those transformation were often extremely painful and that the persons subject to them found the pain so unbearable they couldn't control themselves anymore and sometimes tried to hurt even their best of friends.

"Miss Granger, are you coming or not. I have told you not to stay too far behind me. Ten points from Gryffindor for your absentmindedness."

Hermione rushed and, in a few steps, she was behind him. The sir around them grew colder and Hermione shivered slightly, rubbing her arms to heat herself a little up without much success. She walked alongside him, for each step he was taking, she herself had to take two steps.

Suddenly, both of them heard bushes move on their left, immediately, his wand was raised and pointed towards the bush. After a few seconds, the bush moved to the side and a centaur appeared.

"What are you doing here Humans?" He asked suspiciously.

Snape bowed and so did Hermione after a few seconds, she knew that centaurs were extremely proud creatures and could get easily offended. Bowing to them was a sign of respect that most of them appreciated. They were after all on their territory.

"Please, excuse us, venerable centaur, my student and I wish you no harm. We are her to collect a very precious ingredient for an antidote and…" Snape began, speaking with extreme deference.

"What ingredient are you looking for?" The centaur asked without any ceremony.

"Werewolf's blood. I want to create for people who have been bitten by werewolves so that they won't be in such extreme pain when transforming and so, less dangerous." He explained simply to the centaur.

"Very well, but do not harm any other creature or plant. If you do, my wrath will be mighty." He warned them.

"We wold never dare. Farewell venerable centaur." Snape replied bowing once again.

They both continued to walk. After an hour the coldness had definitely installed itself inside the forbidden forest and Hermione was frozen to the bone. She shivered, and this time, Professor Snape saw her.

"Haven't you brought a cape with you Miss Granger?" He asked, already knowing the answer and mentally kicking himself for not having thought about it sooner.

"I'm sorry sir, but no, I haven't. I am quite regretting it now…" She said, shivering further more.

That's when he did something that surprised her. He reached for the buttons holding his cape in place and undid them before removing his cloak and handing it to her. She took it and wrapped herself in it, immediately, she felt his warmth and perfume surround her, and quite strangely, she found that she didn't mind.

"Thank you sir, I do hope you won't be cold." She told him, tightening the cloak around her.

"I won't Miss Granger. Now, stay alert. We don't want any werewolf to sneak upon us."

A few seconds later, they heard the howling of a wolf and immediately both of their wands were raised. Suddenly, a werewolf jumped from a bush on their left. Severus interposed himself just in time between the beast and Hermione who was frozen in shock. He tried to get the best off of him and managed to, seconds before being bitten by it. He stayed with his wand pointed at the werewolf and advanced it prudently.

"Do you think he's dead?" Hermione asked quietly, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"No, be careful, we don't want to approach…"

Before he had the time to finish his sentence, another werewolf jumped, this time on their right and caught Hermione by the ankle.

"Professor, please, help me!" She screamed, clearly panicked.

He turned around and sent a stunner at the beast who let out a pain filled wail before falling to the ground a few meters away and stating completely still.

"Miss Granger, are you alright?" He asked, his eyes filled with worry.

It was the first time she had seen him like that, his eyes filled with an emotion other than anger. She looked at him and without a second thought threw her arms at him and kissed him on the lips. It took only a split second for him to reply.


	15. Chapter 15

Hey guys, here is another chapter. I want to thank everyone for their reviews, they give me the fuel I need to write my stories. I hope you'll like this chapter. This chapter is specially dedicated to my most regular reviewer lucyole. I hope that you'll enjoy it. I also have a little surprise for you in the next chapter…

J1974

Chapter 15

His arms came up to the nape of her neck. He caressed it slowly, his long, strong finger brushing past the base of her hair, making them stand on their ends. Suddenly, she went limp into his arms. He looked at her, only to see her eyes had rolled back into her head.

"Miss Granger…" He called, hoping for an answer.

When he got none, he began to panic and a second later, her breathing stop. He laid her onto the forest floor and ripped the cloak from her. Without waiting for another second, he pointed his wand towards her chest and reanimated her. Her entire body rose from the floor and crashed back down on the hard forest ground. He was relieved when he felt the tiniest of breath against his finger, placed just under her nose.

"I'm not letting you go Miss Granger… You stay right here with me; everything is going to be all right." He said, covering her shivering body with his cloak, even taking his coat off and wrapping her inside it securely.

He took a few empty vials out of the breast pocket of his shirt and filled them with a whisk of his wand with the werewolf's blood. He then pocketed the vials back into the pocket before conjuring a small gurney out of thin air.

"Sir… What happened?" Hermione asked, her voice showing how weak she was.

"Shh, don't exhaust yourself. I think that the werewolf somehow gave you a bit of his venom when he bit you. Fortunately, he didn't give you enough poison to make you a werewolf, but we have to purge it from your body before it comes to the heart. If the poison reaches the heart, I'm not sure you will survive. Hang in there, little one." He said, placing her onto the gurney and levitating it.

"Sir, the kiss… I don't regret it." She said before closing her eyes.

"I don't regret it either. But it'll both cost us I'm afraid." He said, before rushing back out the woods.

As soon as he arrived on the edge of the forest, he saw the great silhouette of Hagrid. When the half-giant saw him, he rushed towards him.

"Good evenin' Professor…" he greeted him cheerfully before looking at the mall figure in the gurney. "Blimey Professor. Wha' happened?" He asked to Professor Snape, his eyes wide with fear.

"We were in the forest and some werewolf attacked her. I have to get her to the infirmary as fast as possible, before the poison gets to her heart."

"Alrigh'… I'll come with yeh" He told the Potions Master who had already begun the way back to Hogwarts.

Snape couldn't stop but look at the prone figure of Hermione laying on the gurney. She seemed so fragile and delicate like that. When he arrived at the gate of the castle, Hagrid left him and went back to his hut.

"Hang in there Miss Granger. We're nearly there." He whispered, not exactly if he was doing it for the young Gryffindor or for himself.

When he passed the threshold of the infirmary. Poppy came rushing towards them.

"Severus!? What happened to her?" She nearly screamed.

"She was bitten by a werewolf, in the forest while on detention with me." He told her, looking worriedly at the witch in front of him.

"You're an absolute idiot Severus Snape. Taking a student into the forest on a full moon night. You might as well sign her death warrant by your own hand. Go into my office and fill the report, then you can go. I'll take care of her." She said, sighing loudly as she took Hermione out of the gurney and placed her into one of the cot.

Snape went into Madam Pomphrey's office and took one of the empty _IRC_ (Incident Report Chart) out of the cabinet. He filled it out quickly before returning to the nursery.

Poppy was sitting next to Hermione. A few machines surrounded the cot where she was laying under a crisp white sheet that covered her body.

"How is she Poppy?" He asked, genuinely worried.

"For the moment, she is alive, and that's already a miracle in itself. The werewolf that bit her has in its poison a powerful anesthetic component that thanks to Merlin hasn't reached her heart. If it had. She would not be here anymore. For the moment, I had to put her down artificially as not to exhaust her too much. She has gone through a lot and needs rest." She told the professor, before standing up and looking at the different monitors.

Snape was now in full panic mode inside of him. He wanted to hit his head against the wall for having taken her into the Forest.

"Will… will she wake up?" He asked, not daring to think about the other option.

"I don't know. Her body went through a lot. She'll have to rest. I'll have to contact her parents to warn them." She told him. "Severus, why was she wrapped in your cloak and coat?" She asked casually.

"She got cold, so I gave her my cloak, then while I transported her out of the forest, I didn't want her to get cold at all and so I gave her my coat…" He said to the Mediwitch who was smiling a little at him.

Since Severus Snape had set foot at Hogwarts, never had she seen him be so kind to anyone. He had never really cared for one's wellbeing. The expression of hurt that had been pictured onto his face when she announced him the diagnosis showed to the old Mediwitch that the Potions Master genuinely cared about his pupil.

"Poppy, I think I'll stay here for the night. In case she wakes up. I think it's better if there's some kind of familiar face when she wakes up." He told her. _God, that was clingy_ he thought right after having saying that to the Mediwitch.

The Mediwitch smiled to herself before leaving the Potions Master for the night.

Snape, sat down next to his student. He took the neatly folded cloak and wrapped it around him. A few minutes later, the soft buzzing noise of the machines next to her and the regular bipping of the heart monitor made him go to sleep.

The following morning, Severus was awoken by the sound of two voices. He grunted slightly before opening his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he wasn't in his sleeping quarters but at the infirmary of Hogwarts. Last night's event hit him like a freight train.

"Ah, Severus, my boy you're awake." The warm voice of Albus Dumbledore said to him. "Oh my. Minerva is coming. I think I better go and hide myself. Good luck my boy." He said before scurrying out of the infirmary.

"SEVERUS SNAPE!" he hears a piercing shriek roar.

Minerva McGonagall entered the nursery and, in a few seconds, she was by the bed where Hermione was still sleeping.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! SHE COULD HAVE DIED OUT THERE! EVEN WITH YOU, DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT HER?! EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BIT! OH, I SWEAR TO MERLIN…" The witch shouted onto the Potions Master who had curled up in a ball inside the chair he was occupying, completely terrorized by the older Animagus.

"sorry" Snape whispered. So quietly that Minerva quirked an eyebrow menacingly.

"What is that young man?" She asked, her finger drumming impatiently against her arm.

"I said I'm sorry" Severus repeated with a little more confidence.

"It's not to me you should apologise young man. I have come to no harm. The same cannot be said for Miss Granger. I so hope you understand the seriousness of your action." She said her voice full of disappointment.

Severus felt that disappointment through her voice and a small part of him felt bad for having crossed the witch. Only a few people knew the importance the Transfiguration teacher had had in his life. When he came to Hogwarts in 1917, she took him discreetly under her wing. He had lost his mother a few months ago, and his father used to come home drunk every night. Minerva McGonagall had taken the shy boy under her wing and had helped him get situated in life by giving him the money he needed to go to the Magical Harvard Academy of Potions.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by two young boys who had just made their apparition in the already crowded nursery. He sighed when he saw just who had come inside.

 _Perfect, now it's time for The-Boy-Who-Grew-To-Be-A-Pain-In-My-Arse and the Weasel to shout at me. I bloody saved her…_ he thought as the boys rushed towards Hermione's bed.

"What have you done to her, you greasy git?" Ron asked angrily. He was so angry that Harry had to hold him by the back of his shirt to stop him from throttling the Potions Master.

"Twenty points off Gryffin-"

"If you're thinking of taking points off of him, I advise you strongly not to do so… I think you have done enough for today." The Scottish accent of the head of Gryffindor house interrupted him.

"I don't have to justify myself to you Mr. Weasley, but if you must absolutely know. Miss Granger has been assigned detention after her extremely disturbing behaviour in class. We went into the forest to gather some ingredients and she was attacked by a werewolf. I brought her back to the infirmary and as I didn't want her to be unsupervised tonight, I stayed here." He told the ginger haired boy.

"Now Professor Snape, I think it would be best to leave Miss Granger with Messrs. Potter and Weasley. She'll be in good hands. Also, I have to remind you that you have class in a little less than two hours and you might want to freshen yourself up." The witch said, taking the Potions Master's coat that was hanging on a hook near he doorway of the nursery.

Snape exited the infirmary ward and went to his quarters in the dungeons, once there, he undressed himself and went into the shower. The feeling of the hot water onto his skin made him groan in happiness.

 _I'm getting fucking too old for that shit. I'm a bloody wizard, and I still don't have the idea to make the chair more comfortable or transfigure it into a lounge chair. No, it's your punishment Severus, you shouldn't have taken her with you._ He said to himself, as he rubbed away the tension that had build up inside his shoulders and upper back.

Once he had finished washing up and dressing himself, he went into the lounge area of his quarters which consisted of a room surrounded by black shelves, a two persons couch, a lounge chair, a coffee table and fireplace. In some disturbing way, the lounge looked nearly exactly as his living room in his home in Spinner's End.

He clapped his hand twice and a small house elf appeared. He wore an old Irish quidditch team jersey, that was so large for him, that the hem of the jersey reached his shins, and a pair of kid's trainers that had once been owned by Snape. He ordered his breakfast and thanked the little elf and took a book that laid discarded onto the coffee table.

He tried to read a few words, but quickly figured out it would be impossible for him to concentrate on anything but the girl laying in bed number 666 of the infirmary ward of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

One week passed, but Hermione's condition didn't get any better. Professor Snape was there, every single free instant he had, he would pass it in the company of the small Gryffindor. He had also spent the weekend by her side, praying to any deity that would listen to him to bring her back to him.

While he was there, waiting for her to wake up, he always sat in the same chair. He would conjure up a small desk, along with the essays his pupils had just handed back to him and grade them in silence; glancing from time to time to Miss Granger's deeply asleep figure. When midnight rang at the grandfather clock in the corner of the infirmary ward, he would put his things away and go back to his quarters for the night.

He had been designated by Minerva to tell Potter and Weasley about their misadventure in the Forbidden Forest. He had recounted them the evening's events in the most clinical and boring way, only to see them shrug their shoulder and excusing themselves to some class they were supposed to have.

It had now been a full week since Hermione's injury and Snape was feeling as remorseful as ever. He had barely slept the last two nights (not that his sleep had been very consequential before). He was sitting at his desk when he heard some kind of groan. At first, he didn't react, but when he thought hearing his name, he rose his head from the essays he was grading and his black eyes met with Miss Granger's amber ones.

"Miss Granger! You're awake. How are you feeling?" He said, rushing over her bed.

"I'm fine." She said, her voice raspy from the lack of hydration.

"Very well. I shall call for Professor McGonagall. She will be glad to know you are finally awake." He said, keeping this time his relief at bay.

 _What do you think you're doing Severus?! She's your student. Get a grip on yourself. Yes, you kissed her, and you already admitted to yourself that you liked the kiss. But she's only 16. You could get sacked for this. Go tell Minerva and don't come back…_ He chastised himself in silence.

"Welcome back among us Miss Granger." He said, before making a quick escape from the infirmary ward, forgetting to vanish the desk and take his essays with him.

Hermione stayed there, in bed number 666 of the infirmary ward of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She couldn't help her mind but to go back to that short instant when she had kissed Snape. It was as if this kiss had opened her eyes and that she could now see the world as a whole. On the other hand, he had basically fled from the infirmary ward as soon as he had seen that she was awake. Did he regret the kiss? Maybe he thinks I too much of a dunderhead for him? Thousands of questions where running wild inside her head.

"Oh, Miss Granger. I'm so glad you're awake. It's been a whole entire week since you were brought here. How are you feeling?" Her head of house asked, dressed in one of her infamous chequered dressing gowns.

"Tired, but glad to still be here. I can't really remember what happened. Only being assigned detention and then going into the Forbidden Forest. The rest is still a little bit fuzzy." She explained, propping herself up onto the cushions in her back. Not wanting for the older witch to make her relate the night's events.

It was at that moment that Madam Pomfrey came inside the ward.

"Miss Granger, you're awake? Professor McGonagall what are you doing here?" She demanded, both of her hands on her hips.

"I am only checking up on my student. It is after all my duty as head of the Gryffindor House which Miss Granger is part of." Professor McGonagall explained to the Mediwitch who was still looking very crossed.

"Very well, but it never came to your mind to actually come and warn me that Miss Granger is awake? No?" She asked to McGonagall, waving her hands in the air to show her despair at the situation.

"What, Severus hasn't told you that Miss Granger had awoken?" McGonagall asked, surprised.

"No, he hasn't. Anyways, how are you feeling Miss Granger? Any pains? Any soreness?" The Mediwitch asked, waving her wand rapidly above her and noting the numbers that appeared onto a chart that was floating in mid-air in front of her.

"Not really, only really tired and anxious about how much classes I've missed. I'm going to be so late behind. Even though it's the end of the year, we haven't finished most of our curriculums and I won't be able to work on them during the holidays… I have to get up and catch up on…" Hermione began, taking the covers off of her body and trying to get out of bed before feeling Professor McGonagall's hand on her arm.

"Always hungry to learn more Miss Granger. Are we?" She asked smiling down at her pupil. "I don't think that many of your fellow students are up and awake, this early in the morning. Don't worry for your school work Miss Granger, I am perfectly certain you will manage to catch up onto the hours of classes you have missed before the start of the summer holidays. For the moment, you need to rest." She concluded by helping her back into her bed and under the comforter.

She nodded and looked around her. The bedside table, and tray were completely bare of anything. She remembered that when a student got injured, most of the time their bedsides would be drowned in 'get well soon' cards, boxes of candies and Zonko's products. Her bedside table was bare of anything, except her wand and a glass of water. She looked puzzledly at her transfiguration teacher.

"Professor, you wouldn't happen to know if anyone visited me whilst I was unconscious?"

"Well… Professor Snape was there all the free time he could get. I visited you on the first day… But other than that, I don't think anyone came by, sorry." She said, looking apological.

"Thank you, Professor…" Hermione stuttered, not really sure how to feel about it.

She had always been there for Harry or Ron when they had gotten injured. She remembered every single one of those occasions she had spent inside the

"Alright, I think it's time to let Miss Granger rest. You can come back tomorrow in the morning Professor." Madam Pomphrey said, directing the witch towards the exit.

Once Professor McGonagall had been escorted outside of the infirmary ward, the school nurse went back to Hermione's cot at the end of the ward. She looked at the frail witch inside the bed and looked at her.

"Miss Granger, with me, you don't have to pretend. Everything that is said in the boundary of this room will not get out of it. Do you remember anything at all from last week's events?"

"I do nurse Pomphrey; I remember every single second of it." She breathed out before her eyes closed by themselves.

The nurse breathed heavily, relieved that the girl didn't suffer from any sustaining injury, and with a flick of her wand, every lights turned themselves off. She looked one last time at Hermione's sleeping form in bed number 666 and went back to her cubicle.

The following day, Hermione was already feeling much better. Madam Pomphrey told her she would be ready to receive visitors if she wanted, which made Hermione extremely glad. Although she did like the solitude her books provided. Sometimes, she felt as though a little bit of company was quite appreciated.

She had groomed her hair and applied a fine touch of makeup as not to show how pale her complexion was right now. She had spotted earlier a single black covered book in one of the drawers of the bedside table and she was hitching to take it and read it. After a few minutes, it's exactly what she did. The feeling of the simple yet elegant cover made her heart flutter in excitement. She opened the book and on the first page ten words were written in a spiky scripture she seemed to recognize but couldn't really place.

 _This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince._

She flicked the page and read the title of the book: Sense and Sensibility. She was astounded to find a muggle book in the magical world. She was also happy that whoever had left this book here seemed to be quite found of Jane Austen's work.

One hour later, the door to the infirmary ward was opened, but Hermione was so deeply captivated by the story of Marianne and poor Colonel Brandon. The door to the infirmary ward was closed back quietly. Hermione still wasn't aware that somebody was watching over her. It was only when she heard someone clear its throat, she suddenly rose her head from her book only to see her Potions Professor looking severely down at her.

"Miss Granger, how did you manage to get your hands on this book? Did you ask yourself if you were allowed to take this book?" He asked, his voice harsher than she had ever heard.

"I'm… I'm… I'm sorry Sir. I didn't mean to offend you at all. I only wanted to do something else than sit in bed and do nothing at all, while I waited for my friends to visit me. Which didn't happen…" She concluded sadly, handing him the small book.

"Miss Granger, I understand that you may be upset of your current predicament which I will agree is entirely my fault. That is why I will let you keep this book for the duration of your recovery. I will have only one request. Never speak about it to anyone…" He said, letting his words hang in mid-air.

"I promise I shall not tell a soul." Hermione said, whole heartedly.

"I also wanted to tell you that I contacted your parents to inform them of your current situation. They sent a letter to your attention which I haven't read, but if it is anything like the letter I receive I don't think it is wise for you to open it now while you recover from last week events" He said handing her a simple white envelope with her name written on it.

"Thank you, sir. I didn't expect them to come or contact me. At least they wrote me a letter. It's already a huge step forward for them." She said taking the envelope and placing it on top of the bedside table, propping it against the pitcher of water.

Professor Snape's heart clenched at her words. They weren't the words of a 16 years old girl, but ones of a woman who had experienced a lot already. He wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her telling her he would always be there for her. But he couldn't… He couldn't if he wanted to keep a minimum of control in her presence.

"Miss Granger, I wanted to ask you one more time if you are sure that you don't remember anything from your detention." He said, sitting down onto a chair a little further away from her bed.

"I… I… do remember my detention Sir. All of it, that is to say until I fell inconscient…" she said after having pondered for a moment.

"Miss Granger, what happened in the forest… It shouldn't have happened." He said, his voice barely over a murmur.

"I understand sir, but let me tell you that I don't regret a single second what happened in the forest…"

Just as she said that, he stood up from his chair and in one stride he was next to her. The next thing he acknowledged were her lips locked with his in a passion filled kiss that ended nearly as quickly as it begun.

"I don't regret it either my little witch…" He said stroking her cheek lightly.

Right at that moment, Harry and Ron bursted into the infirmary ward and rushed to where Hermione and Snape were. The boys shot sideways glances at Snape who just had the time to put a reasonable distance between him and Hermione.


End file.
